Fortuneteller Law Denounced as Unconstitutional

July 21, 2003

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-fortune21jul21,1,6362990.story?coll=la-news-religion

On July 21, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that San Francisco "supervisors passed a controversial new law last week to license a much-maligned industry that offers psychic solutions and cosmic guidance to customers, from lonely hearts to those obsessed with their futures... The ordinance applies to a broad range of practitioners, such as tarot card and palm readers and those who practice Chinese I-Ching and those who decipher Turkish coffee grounds. The rules require them to register with the city, submit to fingerprinting, offer receipts and post rate sheets... Authorities say the new law is among the nation's most aggressive for large cities and is modeled on ordinances governing other cash-based service providers such as masseuses, taxi drivers and pawnshop dealers. The idea is to keep tabs on an often hard-to-track business population. Legitimate practitioners, they say, have nothing to fear... Yet many in the Romany community — also known as Gypsies — have cried foul, calling the new law unconstitutional. They say it discriminates against religious practices that include fortunetelling and tarot card reading... The state Supreme Court in 1985 struck down laws in many California cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, that banned fortunetelling outright. But laws regulating the practice in some cities remain in force."