Alabama must pay for unconstitutional panhandling law

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal court in Alabama ordered the state to pay $158,000 in attorney fees to the Southern Poverty Law Center and other advocates for the unhoused for their successful class action that struck down, as unconstitutional, the state’s anti-panhandling law. The state has 60 days to make the payment as part of a court-approved joint settlement of the SPLC’s constitutional claims. On March 2, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the state’s petition for a rehearing of an 11th Circuit de...