A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Alabama’s anti-panhandling laws are unconstitutional and begging is protected speech under the First Amendment.

The decision was announced in a 15 page brief by a federal three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. All three judges were appointed during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The appeal, made by Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Secretary Hal Taylor, was prompted by a prior verdict from a district court in 2023.

In that court’s ruling it enjoined Taylor from enforcing the state’s panhandling laws and declared that begging was protected speech under the First Amendment.

However, Taylor appealed arguing that begging was not protected speech and made the sole issue of the appeal about, “[whether the First Amendment, as originally understood, permits the criminalization of begging.”

To support the argument Taylor cited several laws from, “common-law England, the Founding Era, and Reconstruction”, that criminalized begging.

But the court cited a prior 1999 ruling, Smith v. City of Fort Lauderdale, as precedent that already settled that begging was protected by the First Amendment and bound the appeals court to follow the ruling in Smith.

Although the three judge panel ruled against Taylor’s appeal, they said in the briefing that his arguments were better directed in an en banc petition or a hearing where the entire court hears the case, not just three judges.

“Instead, Taylor’s arguments are better directed to this Court sitting en banc, a fact Taylor realized when he moved for initial hearing en banc of this appeal,” the brief said.

The case stems from a class action lawsuit filed in 2020 by individuals ticketed or jailed for panhandling in Montgomery, arguing the state’s laws were unconstitutional and criminalized poor people.

According to the Alabama Reflector, between July 2018 and December 2020, the Montgomery Police Department filed 35 citations for alleged violations of the Begging Statute and issued 394 citations under the Pedestrian Solicitation Statute.

Under Alabama law an individual commits loitering if they, “loiter, remain, or wander about in a public place for the purpose of begging.”

A separate law also criminalizes, “soliciting employment, business, or contributions from the occupant of any vehicle”, unless authorized with an official permit.

In May 2023, following the district court’s decision in March, the Alabama legislature passed a revised version of the loitering law that makes the first arrest a violation but a subsequent arrest will carry a Class C misdemeanor charge.

Also, the penalties could include a $500 fine and jail time of three months.

AL.com left a message with ALEA representatives but did not receive a response.