CIVIL SUITS
There is a lawsuit moving through the courts that could have major implications on the ability of the government to impose regulations on what one can do on their own private property. In the suit Kristy Kay Money and Rolf Jacob Straubhaar v. city of San Marcos, the plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgement states, “This civil rights lawsuit challenges a local ordinance that requires private property owners to keep unwanted objects on their property for purely aesthetic purposes.” The unwanted object is a letter Z on the wrought iron balcony relating to a previous homeowner Frank Zimmerman, who had affiliations with the Ku Klux Klan. The city has local ordinances meant to maintain the appearance of homes in historic districts that must be applied fairly across the board, but the plaintiffs question the merits be- hind their ability to do so.
“Most Americans, when they buy a home, they assume that they’re going to have autonomy over what their home looks like,” said Chance Weldon, The Texas Public Policy Foundation litigation director and legal representation for the Moneys. “They don’t think that they have to do that with the government, that the government’s going to act like the landlord over the property. It’s part of the American dream to really have some autonomy over what your home looks like.”
