394 U.S. 147 (1969) SHUTTLESWORTH V. BIRMINGHAM

[The Apellate Court] takes cognizance of the rule so often stated by the appellate courts of this state, to the effect that it is the duty of courts not to strike down a city ordinance or a statute as unconstitutional, if by reasonable construction it can be given a field of operation within constitutional limits and that where a statute or ordinance is susceptible of two constructions, one of which will defeat the ordinance or statute and the other will uphold it, the latter construction will be adopted.

"It is settled by a long line of recent decisions of this Court that an ordinance which, like this one, makes the peaceful enjoyment of freedoms which the Constitution guarantees contingent upon the uncontrolled will of an official — as by requiring a permit or license which may be granted or withheld in the discretion of such official — is an unconstitutional censorship or prior restraint upon the enjoyment of those freedoms." Staub v. Baxley, 355 U.S. 313, 322. And our decisions have made clear that a person faced with such an unconstitutional licensing law may ignore it and engage with impunity in the exercise of the right of free expression for which the law purports to require a license.

TL:DR our decisions have made clear that a person faced with such an unconstitutional licensing law may ignore it and engage with impunity in the exercise of the right of free expression for which the law purports to require a license.