Assignment task: Penny Saver Publications, Inc. publishes a newspaper that is delivered to households free of charge in south suburban Cook County, including the Village of Hazel Crest. In 1983, Hazel Crest enacted a comprehensive fair housing ordinance providing that no person could solicit any owner or occupant of a dwelling to sell or rent or list for sale or rental the dwelling any time after the owner had notified the village clerk that he did not want to be solicited.
The ordinance defined "solicit" or "solicitation" to mean "any conduct by a real estate agent or employee or agent thereof intended to induce the owner of a dwelling within the village to sell, rent or list the same for sale or rental." The penalty for violating the ordinance was a fine ranging from $100 to $500.
Donald Benkendorf, a real estate broker, subsequently placed a flyer in the Penny Saver advertising his real estate services. Several of the residents of Hazel Crest whose names were on the anti-solicitation list complained, and Benkendorf was prosecuted under the ordinance by the village.
Penny Saver and Benkendorf filed separate suits challenging the ordinance in the District Court. In its complaint, Penny Saver sought injunctive relief against enforcement of the ordinance as applied to advertisements in newspapers, declaratory relief that the ordinance was unconstitutional and damages.
You be the judge! Make a decision on the challenge of the ordinance, and give your reasons. You must consider the Constitution, but you must also decide as if you were a judge.