Opinion ID: 1653006
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Heading: Free Speech Rights.

Text: Defendants urge that their convictions violate free speech protection under both the federal and state constitutions. The first amendment protects speech from being abridged by the government. Frisby v. Schultz, 487 U.S. 474, 479, 108 S.Ct. 2495, 2499, 101 L.Ed.2d 420, 428 (1988); U.S. Const. amend. I; see also Iowa Const. art. I, § 7. Careful scrutiny of an abridgment of speech first focuses on the place of the speech. Frisby, 487 U.S. at 479, 108 S.Ct. at 2499, 101 L.Ed.2d at 428. The Constitution does not protect against a private party who seeks to abridge free expression of others on private property. Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. 507, 513, 96 S.Ct. 1029, 1033, 47 L.Ed.2d 196, 203 (1976); Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner, 407 U.S. 551, 568, 92 S.Ct. 2219, 2228, 33 L.Ed.2d 131, 142 (1972). In Hudgens, a shopping center manager told union picketers to leave or they would be arrested for trespass. 424 U.S. at 509, 96 S.Ct. at 1031, 47 L.Ed.2d at 200. Noting that the first amendment does not protect against this activity by a private entity, the Court rejected the picketers' claim of protection under the federal constitution. Id. at 521, 96 S.Ct. at 1037, 47 L.Ed.2d at 207. In Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins, 447 U.S. 74, 81, 100 S.Ct. 2035, 2040, 64 L.Ed.2d 741, 752 (1980), the Supreme Court upheld the California Supreme Court's decision that the California Constitution protects speech and petitioning, reasonably exercised, in privately owned shopping centers. Other states have considered whether their own constitutions afford greater free speech rights than the first amendment. The Wisconsin Constitution does not protect against abridgment of speech on private property. State v. Horn, 139 Wis.2d 473, 476, 407 N.W.2d 854, 855 (1987) (abortion protesters trespassed at medical clinic). The Massachusetts Constitution does not extend any further than the first amendment regarding speech on private property. Commonwealth v. Noffke, 376 Mass. 127, 134, 379 N.E.2d 1086, 1090 (1978) (union organizer convicted of trespass for soliciting on employer's parking lot). The Michigan Constitution has been held not to prohibit property owners from denying access for free speech purposes. Woodland v. Michigan Citizens Lobby, 423 Mich. 188, 193, 378 N.W.2d 337, 339 (1985) (solicitation of signatures in mall areas of privately owned shopping centers). Woodland quotes as follows from Lloyd: [P]roperty [does not] lose its private character merely because the public is generally invited to use it for designated purposes. Few would argue that a freestanding store, with abutting parking space for customers, assumes significant public attributes merely because the public is invited to shop there. Nor is size alone the controlling factor. The essentially private character of a store and its privately owned abutting property does not change by virtue of being large or clustered with other stores in a modern shopping center. Id. at 225-26, 378 N.W.2d at 354 (quoting Lloyd, 407 U.S. at 569, 92 S.Ct. at 2229, 33 L.Ed.2d at 143). We conclude that defendants' free speech argument must fail under both the federal and Iowa Constitutions. As we observed in State v. Elliston, 159 N.W.2d 503 (Iowa 1968): Liberty can only be exercised in a system of law which safeguards order.... [T]he right of peaceful protest does not mean that everyone with opinions or beliefs to express may do so at any time and at any place. There is a proper time and place for even the most peaceful protest and a plain duty and responsibility on the part of all citizens to obey all valid laws and regulations. Id. at 508 (quoting Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 559, 574, 85 S.Ct. 476, 485-86, 13 L.Ed.2d 487, 498 (1965)).