VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — A North County woman may spark a supreme court case after receiving a ticket for honking her horn. It's happened to everyone; you honk your horn after someone cuts you off in traffic. But if you honk when you're not in traffic, it's illegal and you may get a ticket.
That's what happened to Oceanside resident Sue Porter in 2017. She was protesting outside of Rep. Darrell Issa's former office in Vista.
"I did beep 14 times. just not in succession," said Porter. "I went beep beep beep. Got to the middle of the protest went beep beep beep. I did that, all of a sudden there’s a cop behind me with his lights on. I thought he was trying to get around me."
Instead, the deputy pulled her over and started writing a ticket.
"Finally he said it was illegal use of horn," said Porter. "I said what, 'there’s such a law?'"
State law says you can only honk your horn when you're warning other people in traffic or trying to stop a thief. 40 other states have similar laws on the books, but they're rarely enforced.
"What they did was wrong," said Porter. "You can’t pick and choose when you’re going to enforce the law or not enforce the law. People have honked their horns at political protests for ever."
That ticket got dismissed in 2017 after the deputy failed to show up for court, but Porter has been battling to overturn that law ever since. Lower courts ruled against Porter, forcing her to appeal several times.
Last month Porter's attorneys petitioned the supreme court to hear the case.
"The government admitted in the court below that there’s never been a single accident in the state of California caused by expressive honking," said Thaila Sundaresan, an attorney leading the case. "So why is this law on the books?"
There's no guarantee the high court will hear this case. So it's unclear if, or when, it will ever be legal for you to honk your horn at a protest.
"To do something this petty at a protest, when people do it all the time, I was very disappointed," said Porter.
