Opinion ID: 72176
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network

Text: 53 In Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 855, 137 L.Ed.2d 1 (1997), the Supreme Court addressed another challenge to an injunction in the abortion protest context, and reaffirmed the principles articulated in Madsen. 20 The abortion protesters enjoined in Schenck had engaged in a variety of activities, including blocking the plaintiff abortion clinics' driveways and entrances, disrupting clinic operations by entering the clinics, flinging themselves onto patients' cars, crowding cars approaching the clinics, and distributing literature to and conversing with patients approaching the clinics. Id. at ----, 117 S.Ct. at 860. The protesters also had used more aggressive techniques, such as yelling in the faces of women approaching the clinics; jostling, grabbing, pushing, and shoving women attempting to enter the clinics; and elbowing, grabbing, and spitting on volunteers who escorted patients to the clinics. Id. Protesters called sidewalk counselors walked alongside women attempting to enter the clinics and tried to persuade the women not to have abortions; sometimes these efforts degenerated into physical altercations. Id. 54 The district court in Schenck issued an injunction which barred the protesters from demonstrating within a fixed 15-foot buffer zone around the clinic doorways, driveways, and parking lot entrances. The injunction also established 15-foot floating buffer zones around people and vehicles entering or leaving the clinic facilities. A cease and desist provision in the injunction allowed two sidewalk counselors to enter the buffer zones, but the sidewalk counselors were required to retreat 15 feet from the person they were counseling if the person indicated a desire not to be counseled. See id. at ---- - ---- & n. 3, 117 S.Ct. at 861-62 & n. 3. 55 The Court began its analysis by reviewing its Madsen decision, noting that the test to be applied when evaluating content-neutral injunctions is  'whether the challenged provisions of the injunction burden no more speech than necessary to serve a significant government interest.'  Id. at ----, 117 S.Ct. at 864 (quoting Madsen, 512 U.S. at 765, 114 S.Ct. at 2525). The Court explained that the injunction at issue protected the same significant government interests as were implicated in Madsen: ensuring public safety and order, promoting the free flow of traffic on public sidewalks and streets, protecting property rights, and protecting women's freedom to obtain pregnancy-related services. Id. at ----, 117 S.Ct. at 866. The Court then turned to an examination of the challenged portions of the injunction. 56 The Court struck down the 15-foot floating buffer zones around people approaching the clinics because the floating buffer zones burdened more speech than was necessary to serve the relevant government interests. Id. at ---- - ----, 117 S.Ct. at 866-67. The Court explained that the floating buffer zones prevented protesters from engaging in speech which lie[s] at the heart of the First Amendment, such as having a normal conversation with people entering or leaving the clinics or handing leaflets to people entering or leaving the clinics who are walking on the public sidewalks. Id. at ----, 117 S.Ct. at 867. Additionally, the floating nature of the buffer zones made it difficult for protesters who wished to be in compliance with the injunction to know how to do so because the protesters would have to continually readjust their positions as numerous people entered and exited the clinics. Id. at ---- & n. 9, 117 S.Ct. at 867 & n. 9. The floating buffer zones thus created impermissible uncertainty about what activity was allowed under the injunction, and created a substantial risk that more speech would be burdened than the injunction actually prohibited. Id. at ---- - ----, 117 S.Ct. at 867-68. 21 57 The Court, however, upheld the 15-foot fixed buffer zones around clinic doorways, driveways, and parking lot entrances. Id. at ----, 117 S.Ct. at 868. The Court explained that these fixed buffer zones were necessary to ensure that people and vehicles could enter and exit the clinic facilities, and that the imposition of such fixed buffer zones was appropriate in light of the protesters' past conduct. Id. at ---- - ----, 117 S.Ct. at 868-69. The Court also noted that it would defer to the District Court's reasonable assessment of the number of feet necessary to keep the entrances clear. Id. ----, 117 S.Ct. at 869. 22 58