Opinion ID: 494186
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Constitutionality of Airport's Practice

Text: 8 Although the government does have the power to preserve the property under its control for the use to which it is lawfully dedicated, Greer v. Spock, 424 U.S. 828, 836, 96 S.Ct. 1211, 1217, 47 L.Ed.2d 505 (1976) (quotingAdderley v. Florida, 385 U.S. 39, 47, 87 S.Ct. 242, 247, 17 L.Ed.2d 149 (1966)), the extent to which the government may limit public access to its property depends on whether the property is a public or nonpublic forum. Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 797, 105 S.Ct. 3439, 3446, 87 L.Ed.2d 567 (1985); Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n, 460 U.S. 37, 44, 103 S.Ct. 948, 954, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983). The district court found that the area of the airport at which Jamison wished to protest is a  'public place' which, ordinarily, means it is a 'public forum,' where citizens may express their views. Jamison v. City of St. Louis, 671 F.Supp. 641 (E.D.Mo.1986). We agree that in these circumstances the public areas of a municipal airport constitute a public forum. 9 We base our decision on several factors. First, and most importantly, the City of St. Louis, through its solicitation rule, effectively recognized the public forum status of the unrestricted areas of its airport. Its regulations, designed to insure that persons seeking to exercise constitutional freedoms of expression can communicate effectively with users of the airport, stated that such persons shall be protected  in their activities. (Our emphasis). The City's regulations thus implicitly acknowledged that the first amendment activities that take place in more traditional public forums are not incompatible with the purposes of an airport's public concourses. Cf. Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 116, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 2303, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972) (crucial question is whether the manner of expression is basically incompatible with the normal activity of a particular place    ). 10 Second, every court that has decided the issue has held that an airport is a public forum. See Jews for Jesus, Inc. v. Board of Airport Comm'rs, 785 F.2d 791, 795 (9th Cir.1986), aff'd on other grounds, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987); U.S. Southwest Africa/Namibia Trade & Cultural Council v. United States, 708 F.2d 760, 764-66 (D.C.Cir.1983); Fernandes v. Limmer, 663 F.2d 619, 626-27 (5th Cir.1981); Chicago Area Military Project v. City of Chicago, 508 F.2d 921, 926 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 992, 95 S.Ct. 1999, 44 L.Ed.2d 483 (1975); Kuszynski v. City of Oakland, 479 F.2d 1130, 1131 (9th Cir.1973); International Society for Krishna Consciousness v. Wolke, 453 F.Supp. 869, 872 (E.D.Wisc.1978); International Society for Krishna Counsciousness v. Griffin, 437 F.Supp. 666, 672-73 (W.D.Pa.1977); International Society for Krishna Counsciousness v. Rochford, 425 F.Supp. 734, 742 (N.D.Ill.1977), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 585 F.2d 263 (7th Cir.1978); International Society for Krishna Counsciousness v. Engelhardt, 425 F.Supp. 176, 180 (W.D.Mo.1977); cf. Wolin v. Port of New York Authority, 392 F.2d 83, 90 (2d Cir.) (large bus station is public forum), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 940, 89 S.Ct. 290, 21 L.Ed.2d 275 (1968). 4 We agree with these courts and with the City's implicit acknowledgment that the concourse of a large airport facility like the one in St. Louis has the character, pattern of activity, and nature of purpose that make it an appropriate place for the communication of views. See Wolin, 392 F.2d at 89. As has been noted, an airport terminal is much like a busy city street. Both are lined by shops, restaurants, newsstands, and other businesses, with travelers or other members of the general public coming and going as they please. No security checkpoint must be crossed to reach the area where Jamison proposed to stand, nor must a fee be paid to enter that area. These facts, coupled with the City's Rule 1.5, publicly designating the airport as an arena where first amendment rights would be protected, lead us to conclude that the concourses of Lambert Airport are a public forum. 11 As the Supreme Court has repeatedly stated, speakers can be excluded from a public forum only when the exclusion is necessary to serve a compelling state interest and the exclusion is narrowly drawn to achieve that interest. Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 800, 105 S.Ct. 3439, 3448, 87 L.Ed.2d 567 (1985). The defendants' procedure for determining who may exercise first amendment rights at the airport is, therefore, constitutionally defective in two respects. 12 First, in practice and in contravention of its own regulations, the City gives airport director Griggs complete and unguided discretion to rule on applications to exercise first amendment rights. As the district court noted, such a practice, which 13 makes the peaceful enjoyment of freedoms which the Constitution guarantees contingent upon the uncontrolled will of an official--as by requiring a permit or license which may be granted or withheld in the discretion of such official--is an unconstitutional censorship or prior restraint upon the enjoyment of those freedoms. 14 Staub v. City of Baxley, 355 U.S. 313, 322, 78 S.Ct. 277, 282, 2 L.Ed.2d 302 (1958); cf. Board of Airport Comm'rs v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 2573, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987) (rejecting proposed narrowing construction of ordinance that prohibited all first amendment activities in airport because proposed construction--prohibiting only non-airport related speech--would give airport officials the unconstitutional power to decide in the first instance whether a given act is airport related.) The Supreme Court has consistently invalidated such practices, in recognition of the immeasurable injury inflicted on first amendment freedoms by the potentially arbitrary and discriminatory exercise of an official's unfettered discretion. 5 15 Moreover, the City's practice is not narrowly tailored to serve compelling interests because, as Griggs testified, he routinely refused all requests to protest or solicit except those accompanied by court order. Appellees have failed to justify this practice, and we can discern no compelling government need that would warrant such a drastic exclusion of speakers from a public forum. We therefore affirm the district court's finding that the procedure by which the City and Griggs determine who may exercise first amendment rights at the Lambert Airport is unconstitutional, in violation of the first and fourteenth amendments. 16