Complaint Alleges that 2024 San Diego Municipal Ordinance Excludes Protected Speech and Expression from Being Considered Protected Art
SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, March 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Sara Duvall, a San Diego native and accomplished artist, has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of San Diego to protect her First Amendment rights [complaint number: 26CV1112AGSBJW]. Since 2024, Duvall has been repeatedly cited and fined for displaying and selling her original, expressive artwork in Balboa Park — on the grounds that her mixed-media clay and metal pieces are not in fact “visual art.”
Duvall’s work has been exhibited in galleries and recognized with awards. Her pieces explore deeply personal and expressive themes — including, her experience with synesthesia, meditations on the impact of human activity on the earth, and constitutionally-protected political viewpoints on pressing social issues. For years, she shared that work with the public in Balboa Park.
Following the City’s adoption of its Expressive Activities code and revision of its Sidewalk Vending Regulations in early 2024, the City of San Diego began targeting Duvall — fining her $250 in August 2024 and $500 in May 2025 — classifying her work as commercial vending rather than protected artistic expression. The complaint alleges that these determinations are arbitrary and reflect a profound misunderstanding of both the nature of artistic expression and the protections guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Duvall is represented by McKenzie Scott PC, the San Diego civil rights firm that litigated Dorsett v. City of San Diego [case number: 3:24-cv-01172], advocating for the First Amendment rights of a man who was convicted of disorderly conduct in Balboa Park for calling Park Rangers “bullies.” In that case, a federal judge found San Diego’s 130-year-old disorderly conduct ordinance to be unconstitutionally overbroad and vague. Dorsett v. City of San Diego ultimately led to the repeal of the ordinance which had been used repeatedly by City law enforcement to punish constitutionally protected speech.
The lawsuit highlights fundamental constitutional deficiencies in the law: first, San Diego has created a definition of “visual art” that excludes art recognized for millennia for its artistic expression. Art that is carved, art that is welded, art that includes pottery or metal are deemed “handcrafts” not worthy of constitutional protection. Second, San Diego has granted its Park Rangers — law enforcement officers with no training in the arts, First Amendment law, or constitutional standards — the authority to determine on the spot whether a person’s creative expression qualifies as protected “art” or unprotected commercial “vendor” activity.
Under the City’s framework, a Park Ranger’s subjective opinion about whether a clay sculpture, a mixed-media installation, or any creative work rises to the level of “art” can mean the difference between a citizen exercising a protected constitutional right and facing hundreds of dollars or more in fines. The complaint alleges that the City provides no objective criteria, no meaningful training, and no procedural safeguards to cabin this extraordinary discretion.
The Duvall case is the latest in a series of First Amendment challenges to San Diego’s regulation of expression in public spaces. In Dorsett v. City of San Diego, William Dorsett was charged under San Diego Municipal Code Section 56.27 — an 1895 ordinance that had not been updated in over a century — for verbally criticizing Park Rangers. A three-judge state appellate panel unanimously overturned his conviction, declaring his criticism to be constitutionally protected. A subsequent federal civil rights lawsuit led U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz to issue a preliminary injunction enjoining the City from enforcing the law. The City ultimately repealed the law.
The complaint alleges that, despite the outcome in Dorsett, the City has continued to enforce vague and overbroad ordinances against protected expression — and has once again placed enforcement in the hands of Park Rangers who lack training on First Amendment principles.
“The government does not get to dictate what manner and medium the artist uses to express herself,” said Michele McKenzie, lead counsel for Ms. Duvall. “Sara Duvall is an accomplished artist whose work speaks for itself. The City fined her because a Park Ranger looked at her work and decided they weren’t ‘art.’ That is exactly the kind of content-based judgment the First Amendment prohibits.”
Sara Duvall hopes to return with her art to San Diego’s public spaces. “I just want the same rights as the other artists.”
Jason Kitchen
McKenzie Scott PC
+1 517-974-4724
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Sara Duvall First Amendment Case
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