Marked for life.

• Author: Root, Damon
• Position: Artifact - Brief article

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"THE TATTOO DESIGNS that are applied by me are individual and unique creative works of visual art," the tattoo artist Johnny Anderson claimed in a 2006 lawsuit. They are therefore constitutionally protected speech, he argued, so the courts should strike down a ban on tattoo parlors within the city limits of Hermosa Beach, California.

In September a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit agreed, holding that "the tattoo itself, the process of tattooing, and the business of tattooing are forms of pure expression fully protected by the First Amendment." It's the highest-profile victory yet in the tattoo trade's long battle against the regulatory state.

New York City, where the electric tattoo machine was...