Opinion ID: 2499424
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Scrutiny Factors to TRO

Text: [¶ 60] The term prior restraint is used to describe administrative and judicial orders forbidding certain communications when issued in advance of the time that such communications are to occur. Alexander v. United States, 509 U.S. 544, 550, 113 S.Ct. 2766, 2771, 125 L.Ed.2d 441 (1993) (quoting M. Nimmer, Nimmer on Freedom of Speech § 4.03 at 4-14 (1984)). A temporary restraining order is a classic example of a prior restraint. Id. [¶ 61] The Supreme Court has described prior restraints on speech as the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights. Nebraska Press Ass'n, 427 U.S. at 559, 96 S.Ct. at 2803. Any prior restraint on expression bears a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity. New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713, 714, 91 S.Ct. 2140, 2141, 29 L.Ed.2d 822 (1971); see also CBS, Inc. v. Davis, 510 U.S. 1315, 1317, 114 S.Ct. 912, 914, 127 L.Ed.2d 358 (1994); Forsyth County, 505 U.S. at 130, 112 S.Ct. at 2401; Vance v. Universal Amusement Co., Inc., 445 U.S. 308, 316 n. 13, 100 S.Ct. 1156, 1161 n. 13, 63 L.Ed.2d 413 (1980). [¶ 62] The Supreme Court has explained the presumption against the validity of prior restraints, and the preference for other restrictions: The presumption against prior restraints is heavierand the degree of protection broaderthan that against limits on expression imposed by criminal penalties. Behind the distinction is a theory deeply etched in our law: a free society prefers to punish the few who abuse rights of speech after they break the law than to throttle them and all others beforehand. It is always difficult to know in advance what an individual will say, and the line between legitimate and illegitimate speech is often so finely drawn that the risks of freewheeling censorship are formidable. Vance, 445 U.S. at 316 n. 13, 100 S.Ct. at 1161 n. 13 (citations omitted). Along these lines, the Court has further commented: A criminal penalty or a judgment in a defamation case is subject to the whole panoply of protections afforded by deferring the impact of the judgment until all avenues of appellate review have been exhausted. Only after judgment has become final, correct or otherwise, does the law's sanction become fully operative. A prior restraint, by contrast and by definition, has an immediate and irreversible sanction. If it can be said that a threat of criminal or civil sanctions after publication chills speech, prior restraint freezes it at least for the time. Nebraska Press Ass'n, 427 U.S. at 559, 96 S.Ct. at 2803 (footnote omitted); see also Madsen, 512 U.S. at 764, 114 S.Ct. at 2524 (injunctions carry greater risk of censorship and discrimination than do ordinances). [¶ 63] The TRO issued in this case acted as a prior restraint on OSA's speech, and there is thus a heavy presumption against its constitutionality.
[¶ 64] The First Amendment does not offer all speech the same degree of protection. Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410, 444-45, 126 S.Ct. 1951, 1973, 164 L.Ed.2d 689 (2006) (Breyer, J., dissenting). The degree of protection differs depending on whether the speech is political interest/public issue speech, commercial speech or government speech. Id. Additionally, certain categories of speech are afforded limited or no protection, such as obscenity, fighting words, defamation, and fraud. Stevens, 130 S.Ct. at 1584. [¶ 65] Speech on public issues or matters of public concern are classic forms of speech that lie at the heart of the First Amendment. Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York, 519 U.S. 357, 377, 117 S.Ct. 855, 867, 137 L.Ed.2d 1 (1997). The Supreme Court has consistently observed the central importance of protecting speech on public issues, which has led it to scrutinize carefully any restrictions on public issue picketing. Boos, 485 U.S. at 318, 108 S.Ct. at 1162; United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 180-81, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 1708-09, 75 L.Ed.2d 736 (1983); Police Dep't of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 33 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972). [¶ 66] Speech directed at abortion policy is public issue speech. See Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703, 714-15, 120 S.Ct. 2480, 2488-89, 147 L.Ed.2d 597 (2000); Schenck, 519 U.S. at 377, 117 S.Ct. at 867; Madsen, 512 U.S. at 762-64, 114 S.Ct. at 2523-25. The fact that the messages conveyed by those communications may be offensive to their recipients does not deprive them of constitutional protection. Hill, 530 U.S. at 715, 120 S.Ct. at 2488-89. As a general matter, we have indicated that in public debate our own citizens must tolerate insulting, and even outrageous, speech in order to provide `adequate breathing space to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.' Boos, 485 U.S. at 322, 108 S.Ct. at 1164 (quoting Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 56, 108 S.Ct. 876, 882, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988)). [¶ 67] OSA's speech is protected public issue speech, and based on these precedents, any restriction on that speech must be carefully scrutinized. We find that this level of protection must likewise be extended to the graphic photographs OSA chooses to use in its demonstrations. The Supreme Court has stated it will not expand the categories of speech that receive limited protection, such as obscenity, unless there is a demonstration of a longstanding American tradition forbidding such speech or expressive conduct. Stevens, 130 S.Ct. at 1585. In Stevens, a 2010 decision, the Court declined to decrease the level of protection to be given depictions of animal cruelty. Id. Even more recently, in 2011, the Court rejected an argument for decreased protection of video games available commercially to young children that contain violent images, including sexual assault and murder. Brown, 131 S.Ct. at 2734. The Stevens Court explained: The First Amendment's guarantee of free speech does not extend only to categories of speech that survive an ad hoc balancing of relative social costs and benefits. The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs. Our Constitution forecloses any attempt to revise that judgment simply on the basis that some speech is not worth it. The Constitution is not a document prescribing limits, and declaring that those limits may be passed at pleasure. Stevens, 130 S.Ct. at 1585 (quoting Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 178, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803)).
[¶ 68] Streets, sidewalks and parks have long been held to be the traditional fora for First Amendment protected speech, and government entities are strictly limited in their ability to restrict speech in those areas. This Court long ago recognized that members of the public retain strong free speech rights when they venture into public streets and parks, which `have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions.' Perry Ed. Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U.S. 37, 45, 103 S.Ct. 948, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983) (quoting Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496, 515, 59 S.Ct. 954, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (1939) (opinion of Roberts, J.)). In order to preserve this freedom, government entities are strictly limited in their ability to regulate private speech in such traditional public fora. Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Ed. Fund, Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 800, 105 S.Ct. 3439, 87 L.Ed.2d 567 (1985). Reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions are allowed, see Perry Ed. Assn., supra, at 45, 103 S.Ct. 948, but any restriction based on the content of the speech must satisfy strict scrutiny, that is, the restriction must be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest, see Cornelius, supra, at 800, 105 S.Ct. 3439, and restrictions based on viewpoint are prohibited, see Carey v. Brown, 447 U.S. 455, 463, 100 S.Ct. 2286, 65 L.Ed.2d 263 (1980). Pleasant Grove, 555 U.S. at 469, 129 S.Ct. at 1132. [¶ 69] The TRO in this case restricted OSA's speech in the Town Squarea park, and on the surrounding streets and sidewalks. The Town nonetheless contends that the TRO did not apply to a traditional public forum because it has enacted a resolution that allows it to issue permits regulating the Town Square's use for larger events. We disagree that the Town's regulation changed, or could change, the nature of the park as a traditional public forum. See United States v. Marcavage, 609 F.3d 264, 278 n. 9 (3rd Cir.2010) (The issuance of a permit to use a public forum does not transform its status as a public forum.); see also Arkansas Educ. Television Comm'n v. Forbes, 523 U.S. 666, 677, 118 S.Ct. 1633, 1641, 140 L.Ed.2d 875 (1998) ([T]raditional public fora are open for expressive activity regardless of the government's intent.). [¶ 70] The Town Square and the surrounding streets and sidewalk are traditional public fora, and the TRO's restrictions are therefore subject to the heightened scrutiny applicable to that fora.
[¶ 71] The final consideration in determining the level of scrutiny that must be used in determining the TRO's constitutionality is the nature of the TRO's restriction, that is, whether the TRO is content-neutral or content-based. Content-neutral restrictions are those that are justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech. Boos, 485 U.S. at 320, 108 S.Ct. at 1163. A restriction that seeks to protect or shield an audience from disturbing or distressing aspects of speech is content-based. Id. at 321, 108 S.Ct. at 1164; see also Brown, 131 S.Ct. at 2733-34. Likewise, a restriction that is based on an audience's hostile response to the speech is content-based regulation. Forsyth County, 505 U.S. at 134-35, 112 S.Ct. at 2403-04. [¶ 72] The Town sought the TRO and the district court issued the TRO to protect children from the images contained in OSA's demonstration materials and to address the concern that there may be a hostile response to the OSA demonstrations. The restrictions were thus content-based. [¶ 73] Because the TRO imposes content-based restrictions on OSA's speech in a traditional public forum, the TRO is subject to strict scrutiny. Because the Act imposes a restriction on the content of protected speech, it is invalid unless [the government] can demonstrate that it passes strict scrutinythat is, unless it is justified by a compelling government interest and is narrowly drawn to serve that interest. R.A.V. [ v. City of St. Paul ], 505 U.S. [377], at 395, 112 S.Ct. 2538, [120 L.Ed.2d 305 (1992)]. The State must specifically identify an actual problem in need of solving, [ United States v. ] Playboy [ Entertainment Group, Inc. ], 529 U.S. [803], at 822-823, 120 S.Ct. 1878 [146 L.Ed.2d 865 (2000)], and the curtailment of free speech must be actually necessary to the solution, see R.A.V., supra, at 395, 112 S.Ct. 2538. That is a demanding standard. It is rare that a regulation restricting speech because of its content will ever be permissible. Playboy, supra, at 818, 120 S.Ct. 1878. Brown, 131 S.Ct. at 2738.