Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Abstract
The promise of democracy has not been kept to renters. The First Amendment protects renters and homeowners alike from governmental speech suppression, but neither landlord-tenant law nor civil rights law secures renters' political rights from landlord interference. Landlords wield enormous power to censor what renters say, limit who they say it with, and even control what they hear-and renters rarely have legal recourse when landlords choose to exercise this power.
This Article analyzes the diminished political rights of renters and proposes new legislation to put renters and homeowners on equal ground. Rather than importing wholesale from First Amendment doctrine or elevating "political ideology" to a protected status, legislatures should enact a Renters Bill of Political Rights that protects renters-and those who wish to speak to renters-from landlord retaliation for their political activities. This approach is the most compatible with existing landlordtenant law and avoids being underinclusive and overinclusive in the rights it protects. Above all, it enables renters to participate in American democracy without fear that they will lose their homes.
Recommended Citation
Stephen Mortellaro, Equalizing the Political Rights of Renters and Homeowners, 34 J.L. & Pol. 165 (2019).
