Opinion ID: 744115
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Forum

Text: 23 Access to and the character of speech on government-controlled areas may be limited depending upon the type of property at issue. Courts recognize three categories of property on which the government may, in greatly varying degrees, restrict speech: (1) public forums, places which by tradition have been devoted to assembly or debate; (2) limited public forums, 11 properties which the state has opened for use by the public as places for expressive activity; and (3) nonpublic forums, places which are not by tradition or designation forums for public communication. Perry Educ. Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n, 460 U.S. 37, 45-46, 103 S.Ct. 948, 954-56, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983). In public forums, the state's right to limit expression is sharply circumscribed. Id. at 45, 103 S.Ct. at 954. In limited public and nonpublic forums, however, the state's right to regulate speech is more pervasive. 24 Ianni argues, and the district court found, that the history department display case is a nonpublic forum. Ianni further claims that because the expression occurred in a nonpublic forum, speech restrictions were permissible or, at least, the extent of any permissible restriction was unclear. Thus, Ianni states, plaintiffs' First Amendment rights were extinguished, limited or at a minimum, not clearly established. Therefore, Ianni says, the district court's denial of qualified immunity was error. We disagree. 25 In this case the nature of the forum makes little difference. 12 Even if the display case was a nonpublic forum, Ianni is not entitled to qualified immunity. The Supreme Court has declared that the State may reserve [a nonpublic] forum for its intended purposes, communicative or otherwise, as long as the regulation on speech is reasonable and not an effort to suppress expression merely because public officials oppose the speaker's view. Perry, 460 U.S. at 46, 103 S.Ct. at 955; see also Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free Sch. Dist., 508 U.S. 384, 394, 113 S.Ct. 2141, 2147-48, 124 L.Ed.2d 352 (1993) (stating control over access to nonpublic forum can be based on subject matter and speaker identity so long as the distinctions drawn are reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum and are viewpoint neutral); United States v. Kokinda, 497 U.S. 720, 732, 110 S.Ct. 3115, 3122-23, 111 L.Ed.2d 571 (1990) (stating constitutionality of regulation must be considered in light of the nature and function of the forum involved). Here, we find that the suppression was unreasonable both in light of the purpose served by the forum and because of its viewpoint-based discrimination. 26 The display case was designated for precisely the type of activity for which the Kohns and Professors Burnham and Marchese were using it. It was intended to inform students, faculty and community members of events in and interests of the history department. The University was not obligated to create the display case, nor did it have to open the case for use by history department faculty and students. However, once it chose to open the case, it was prevented from unreasonably distinguishing among the types of speech it would allow within the forum. See, e.g., Lamb's Chapel, 508 U.S. at 392-93, 113 S.Ct. at 2146-47; Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263, 267, 102 S.Ct. 269, 273, 70 L.Ed.2d 440 (1981). Since the purpose of the case was the dissemination of information about the history department, the suppression of exactly that type of information was simply not reasonable. 27 We recognize that UMD may legally preserve the property under its control for the use to which it is dedicated. Lamb's Chapel, 508 U.S. at 390, 113 S.Ct. at 2146. However, as the Supreme Court has stated: 28 [A]lthough a speaker may be excluded from a nonpublic forum if he wishes to address a topic not encompassed within the purpose of the forum ... or if he is not a member of the class of speakers for whose especial benefit the forum was created ..., the government violates the First Amendment when it denies access to a speaker solely to suppress the point of view he espouses on an otherwise includible subject. 29 Id. at 394, 113 S.Ct. at 2147 (quoting Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Educ. Fund, Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 806, 105 S.Ct. 3439, 3451, 87 L.Ed.2d 567 (1985)). 30 The suppression of this particular speech was also viewpoint-based discrimination. As the Supreme Court has noted, in determining whether the government may legitimately exclude a class of speech to preserve the limits of a forum, 31 we have observed a distinction between, on the one hand, content discrimination, which may be permissible if it preserves the purposes of that limited forum, and, on the other hand, viewpoint discrimination, which is presumed impermissible when directed against speech otherwise within the forum's limitations. 32 Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors, 515 U.S. 819, 829, 115 S.Ct. 2510, 2517, 132 L.Ed.2d 700 (1995) (citing Perry, 460 U.S. at 46, 103 S.Ct. at 955-56). As Rosenberger illustrates, what occurred here was impermissible. The photographs of Professors Burnham and Marchese expressed the plaintiffs' view that the study of history necessarily involves a study of military history, including the use of military weapons. Because other persons on the UMD campus objected to this viewpoint, or, at least, to allowing this viewpoint to be expressed in this particular way, Ianni suppressed the speech to placate the complainants. 13 To put it simply, the photographs were removed because a handful of individuals apparently objected to the plaintiffs' views on the possession and the use of military-type weapons and especially to their exhibition on campus even in an historical context. Freedom of expression, even in a nonpublic forum, may be regulated only for a constitutionally valid reason; there was no such reason in this case. 14