New Mexico Court Refuses "Obscene" Name Change
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://tinyurl.com/4l53sv
N.M. Court Refuses Obscene Name Change
SANTA FE, N.M., Jun. 28, 2008(AP) A New Mexico appeals court on Friday
ruled against a Los Alamos man who wanted to change his name to a phrase
containing a popular four-letter obscenity.
The man appealed after a state district judge in Bernalillo County
refused his request to change his name to "F--- Censorship!"
Judge Nan Nash ruled that the proposed name change was "obscene,
offensive and would not comport with common decency."
The man _ whose current legal name is Variable _ argued on appeal that
it was improper government censorship to deny him the name change.
"We do not believe that the district court's action infringes on
petitioner's right to free speech," a three-judge panel of the Court of
Appeals said in its ruling.
The man has the right to call himself whatever he wants, unless there's
fraud or misrepresentation involved, the judges said.
But once he seeks court approval for a name change, the court has the
authority to turn him down on several grounds, including if the name is
offensive to common decency and good taste, the judges ruled.
That law was clarified in a 2004 case in the same court that apparently
involved the same petitioner. In that case, an Albuquerque man whose
name was Snaphappy Fishsuit Mokiligon got the go-ahead from the appeals
court to change his name to Variable.
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Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"