Arms of Hope and National Federation of the Blind of Texas

Arms of Hope, a Christian non-profit organization, has worked to provide a safe, nurturing environment for disadvantaged children, youth, and families for over 90 years. They aim to transform the lives of many single-mother families by providing hope, comfort, and support in their time of need. National Federation of the Blind of Texas (NFBTX) is a non-profit organization that seeks to create equal opportunity for all blind individuals by empowering and equipping them with resources to achieve their goals. As organizations that do not receive funding from the government, Arms of Hope and National Federation of the Blind of Texas rely upon the generous giving of churches, organizations, businesses, and individuals for resources and financial support.

One of the ways in which they receive this support is through clothing donations. In parking lots of churches or local shopping centers, there are designated, free-standing donation bins which serve as an easy and convenient spot for people to drop off their donation items. Both Arms of Hope and NFBTX are dependent on these donations to help support families and individuals in need. But last year, the City of Arlington came out with an ordinance stating that these organizations must have permits to place donation bins around the city. The city cited questions about whether or not organizations like Arms of Hope and NFBTX had received permission from property owners to place the bins in their respective spots, as well as concerns about the bins attracting crime or trash pileup. But the permits are not actually the issue here.

The problem lies in that the City of Arlington is using zoning ordinances to purposefully restrict Arms of Hope and NFBTX from placing donation bins everywhere except industrial areas. This means that rather than allowing these bins to be placed where people will see them and go donate – areas like churches, store parking lots, etc. – the city has enacted zoning regulations to essentially make these donations bins unreachable. And if nobody can find the bins, nobody can donate. Because the city has never regulated donation boxes before now, it is clear that this was a targeted act against these nonprofits.

Working to defend and protect the mission and ministry of Arms of Hope and NFBTX, the law firm Copilevitz, Lam & Raney, P.C., with First Liberty Institute as co-counsel, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the city’s ordinance in January 2025.

“It is unthinkable that the City of Arlington would target organizations that help its most vulnerable citizens,” stated Hiram Sasser, Executive General Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Purposefully hindering the efforts of Arms of Hope and National Federation of the Blind of Texas to help their community is shameful and in direct violation of the First Amendment.”

In the petition to the Supreme Court, attorneys state, “The Fifth Circuit’s decision means the government can impose a sweeping ban on fully protected speech just by claiming in litigation that it does not like the medium. The holding below lowers the Constitutional guardrails that have historically protected charitable speech from prior restraint, with far-reaching consequences. This erroneous holding requires immediate reversal to protect the speech and association rights of all charitable and religious organizations.”