Gypsy Fortune Telling Argued in High Court

Gypsies who belong to a pyschic science church should be barred from telling fortunes for profit, because it is “worthless and deceptive,” an Azusa city attorney told the state Supreme Court Friday.

However, if the gypsy members of the Spiritual Psychic Science Church of Truth are prevented from holding readings for money, the law would also affect Christian Science readers and those who ask for donations after Bible readings, their attorney argued.

Azusa has had an ordinance for more than 20 years that prohibits people from predicting the future through fortune telling, said the city’s attorney, Peter Thorson.

“There is a need to protect the public from having to purchase a worthless service, a deceptive practice. It’s a consumer protection service,” Thorson told the high court, which convened in Los Angeles this week instead of San Francisco.

Support Belief

“(But) many people may still believe in it,” attorney Gary Fisher, representing the psychic church, said of fortune telling. He said those who believe in it may support their belief with “some sort of payment.”

The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled a year ago that Azusa’s ban on fortune telling violated the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

The court said the ordinance banned a type of speech based on content alone and compared Azusa’s action to blocking weather predictions and think-tank forecasts. Azusa then asked the high court for a hearing.

The Supreme Court’s decision on the case would affect not only Azusa, but Los Angeles and other cities statewide that have similar ordinances.

“What is a spiritual reading?” asked Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird during the hearing. “If someone had a reading from the Bible and asked for donations afterward, (would that apply)?”

“Obviously, I would think it could be applied that way,” Fisher said.

“Isn’t it pretty obvious that we’re now in the First Amendment area and this ordinance is just overbroad?” Kaus said.