First amendment meets style

Designer’s challenge

We admit to issuing a small chuckle when we heard Oklahoma interior designers were filing a lawsuit citing the First Amendment. Did they not like the colors of ink chosen for The Oklahoman’s new look? The layout? Actually it’s a what’s-in-a-name dispute. The Communications Institute of Justice (CIJ) is suing on behalf of three Oklahoma interior designers for “the right to truthfully describe what they do for a living.” They say their free speech rights are thwarted by Oklahoma law banning interior designers from calling themselves interior designers unless they obtain a license. On one side of the dispute is the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), which apparently likes licensure. On the other is the CIJ, which apparently wants more freedom from government regulation. The ASID is effectively a cartel, the plaintiffs say in a suit drawn up for filing in Oklahoma City federal court. CIJ won a similar suit in New Mexico, that state to the west which offers a designer’s dream in its stunning and colorful array of mountains, plateaus and deserts.

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