MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether to hear Alabama’s appeal of lower court rulings that struck down the state’s broad bans on panhandling as violations of the First Amendment.
The justices have scheduled the case, Taylor v. Singleton, for discussion at their private conference on Feb. 20, 2026. Alabama, led by Attorney General Steve Marshall, is asking the court to reverse decisions by a federal district judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that declared two state statutes unconstitutional.
The statutes in question — Alabama Code § 13A-11-3, which prohibits loitering for the purpose of begging, and § 13A-11-9, which bans soliciting contributions from pedestrians — targeted panhandling in public places. The 11th Circuit affirmed a permanent injunction against their enforcement in April 2025, ruling that begging qualifies as protected speech under longstanding precedent.
The dispute centers on Jonathan Singleton, a homeless Montgomery resident cited multiple times under the laws, including while holding a sign reading “HOMELESS. Today it is me, tomorrow it could be you.” Singleton sued in 2020 on behalf of himself and others experiencing homelessness, alleging the laws stifled charitable solicitation protected by the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins granted summary judgment for Singleton in 2021, certifying a class and enjoining enforcement statewide. Alabama Secretary of the Law Enforcement Agency Hal Taylor conceded in court that, if begging is protected speech, the state could not broadly restrict panhandling as its laws attempted.
Nineteen Republican attorneys general have backed Alabama’s petition, arguing cities need traditional police powers to address homelessness amid a national crisis.
Civil rights groups, including the ACLU of Alabama, hailed the lower court victories as affirming free speech protections rooted in precedents against vagrancy laws with discriminatory origins post-Civil War. A separate 2019 Montgomery ordinance imposing mandatory jail for panhandling was later repealed after a settlement.
Alabama’s petition invokes the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling upholding public camping bans when shelter space exists, urging a narrow view of begging as non-speech conduct historically criminalized. Four justices must vote to grant review for full arguments; otherwise, the lower courts’ injunction stands.
The state has argued “our cities cannot manage this crisis without the full measure of their traditional police powers,” according to reports. Singleton’s side waived an initial response but later sought extensions as the case advanced.