Anti-Abortion Group Wins Free-Speech Ruling

San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court gave an anti-abortion group the go-ahead Wednesday to drive trucks with enlarged photos of aborted fetuses past California schools, saying the Constitution protects the display of disturbing messages. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies interfered with free speech by ordering the driver of one such truck to move away from a middle school, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The deputies had cited a state law barring disruptive activities near public school grounds. "The government cannot silence messages simply because they cause discomfort, fear or even anger," said a panel of three judges - Harry Pregerson, Marsha Berzon and William Fletcher, all considered liberals.
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Related:
Federal Court Upholds Abortion Foes' 1st Amendment Rights
L.A. Times
The 1st Amendment rights of two anti-abortion activists were violated when they were ordered to stop circling a Rancho Palos Verdes middle school in a truck displaying graphic photos of aborted fetuses, a federal appellate court ruled Wednesday. Overturning an earlier district court judgment, a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously ruled that school officials and sheriff's deputies violated the men's free speech rights by ordering them to leave the school's neighborhood. The court in its ruling on a lawsuit brought by the activists cited the concept of a "heckler's veto," which states that free speech cannot be limited based on listeners' reactions to the content.

Appeals Court Rules Dodson Middle School Offiicials
Violated Anti-Abortion Group's Rights In 2003 Protest
LOS ANGELES -- An anti-abortion group's free speech rights were violated when two associates were forced to move a mobile display of enlarged photos of early-term aborted fetuses away from a Rancho Palos Verdes middle school campus in 2003, a federal appellate panel ruled Wednesday. The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a Lake Forest-based group that opposes abortion, sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and an assistant principal at Dodson Middle School, claiming civil rights and First Amendment violations. The truck display was part of the group's "Reproductive Choice Campaign," which seeks to "expose as many people as possible to the realities of abortion," its court papers state.

Posted by Editor at July 3, 2008 07:14 AM