Opinion ID: 1783612
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Application of the Burson Plurality's Approach to LSA-R.S. 18:1462(A)(3) and (4)

Text: There is no doubt that the activities engaged in by Schirmer constituted political speech, triggering the strict scrutiny analysis described supra. See Meyer v. Grant, 486 U.S. 414, 421-422, 108 S.Ct. 1886, 1892, 100 L.Ed.2d 425 (1988) (the circulation of a petition involves the type of interactive communication concerning political change that is appropriately described as `core political speech'). Thus, following the Burson analysis, we must first ask whether the LSA-R.S. 18:1462(A)(3) and (4) are necessary to achieve a compelling state interest. If so, we must consider whether the statute as drawn significantly impinges upon the defendant's First Amendment rights. Like the Burson plurality, we believe that some restricted zone is necessary in order to serve the States' compelling interest in preventing voter intimidation and election fraud. Burson, supra, at ___, 112 S.Ct. at 1855. This concern is at least as compelling in Louisiana, given what the Secretary of State, in his amicus curiae brief to this Court, terms our unique and colorful political history, ... a history rife with election tampering, intimidation, and fraud. The record before us contains testimony by a number of state officials attesting to the fact that the challenged statute's purpose is to create a protected zone wherein voters may exercise their right to vote free from unwanted interference or influence. Thus, like the United States Fifth Circuit, [w]e conclude that Louisiana undoubtedly has a compelling interest in protecting its citizens' right to vote, and that a prohibitory statute somewhat like LSA-R.S. 18:1462(A) designed to protect the sanctity of the ballot box is necessary to further that interest. Schirmer, supra, 2 F.3d at 121. Given this determination, we move to the question of whether the statute significantly impinges upon First Amendment freedoms. Were our review limited solely to the activities of Schirmer and the statute's effect as applied, this Court, in light of Burson, would have no difficulty in finding defendant Schirmer's activities legitimately proscribed. The record contains a joint stipulation of fact, noted supra, which includes an agreement between the parties that Schirmer was at all relevant times conducting his activities within 100 feet of a polling place. Although not directly related to matters on the ballot, Schirmer's conduct, given his close proximity to the polling place, certainly offered the possibility of disrupting the voting process and intimidating prospective voters. The Burson plurality observed that within Tennessee's minor geographic limitation of 100 feet a comprehensive ban on any activity which threatened the integrity of the election process was permissible. The plurality's reasoning was that although a more narrowly drawn statute, one directly addressing attempts to interfere with the electoral process, might be an available alternative, [i]ntimidation and interference laws fall short of serving a State's compelling interests because they `deal with only the most blatant and specific attempts' to impede elections. [18] Burson, supra, ___ U.S. at ___, 112 S.Ct. at 1855, citing Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 28, 96 S.Ct. 612, 639, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976) ( per curiam ) (existence of bribery statute does not preclude need for limits on campaign contributions). Indeed, undetected or less than blatant acts may nonetheless drive the voter away before remedial action can be taken. Id. In light of the Burson plurality's approval of the 100 foot boundary employed by Tennessee, were the Louisiana statutory ban on all political speech limited to a 100 foot radius about polling places, we would likely reverse the ruling of the district court declaring the statute unconstitutional. [19] However, Schirmer's motion to quash was granted by the court below not because LSA-R.S. 18:1462(A) impermissibly prohibited Schirmer's conduct, but rather because in doing so it exhibited an overbroad reach. The doctrine of overbreadth, [20] so-called, is a creature unique to the First Amendment, in particular Free Speech. It applies to statutes which, although used to punish activities which may be legitimately regulated, nevertheless include within their prospective reach speech or conduct protected by the First Amendment. See City of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U.S. 789, 104 S.Ct. 2118, 80 L.Ed.2d 772 (1984); Hill v. City of Houston, 764 F.2d 1156, 1161 (5th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 483 U.S. 1001, 107 S.Ct. 3222, 97 L.Ed.2d 729 (1987). See also Note, The First Amendment Overbreadth Doctrine, 83 Harv.L.Rev. 844 (1970). As overbreadth was explained in NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 432, 83 S.Ct. 328, 338-339, 9 L.Ed.2d 405 (1963), the (challenged statute) may be invalid if it prohibits privileged exercises of First Amendment rights whether or not the record discloses that the petitioner has engaged in privileged conduct. For in appraising a statute's inhibitory effect upon such rights, this Court has not hesitated to take into account possible applications of the statute in other factual contexts besides that at bar. [21] LSA-R.S. 18:1462(A)(3) and (4), as construed by this Court in response to the certified question from the United States Fifth Circuit, operates to prohibit political activity within 600 feet of the polls on election day. Schirmer, supra, 608 So.2d at 949. Although we do not regard as unduly onerous such a prohibition (on all political activity) within the narrow confines approved in Burson (100 feet), when that blanket proscription on political speech is extended to 600 feet we find that a difference only of degree becomes a difference of kind, a difference of constitutional dimension. Burson, supra, ___ U.S. at ___, 112 S.Ct. at 1857. This is particularly true when the 600-foot limitation is considered in a crowded urban context, where, because of greater population density, polling places tend to be more closely situated. In such circumstances the 600 foot radius may often include a large number of surrounding streets, alleyways, and neutral grounds, with the application of the statute as written stifling political speech in traditional public fora. See Hague v. CIO, 307 U.S. 496, 515, 59 S.Ct. 954, 964, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (1939) ([w]herever the title of streets and parks may rest, they have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public). We find such a burden upon the exercise of First Amendment rights to be a significant impingement on those rights, and thus conclude that LSA-R.S. 18:1462(A)(3) and (4), insofar as they prohibit all political activity (including that unrelated to ballot matters) within 600 feet of a polling place on election day, are unconstitutionally overbroad. This is not to say that a more narrowly drawn statute, perhaps one which addresses only advertising and voter solicitation relative to matters on the ballot, like the 100 foot Tennessee statute in Burson, supra, but one which operates within 600 feet of a polling place, would similarly fail to pass constitutional muster. After all, the more narrowly tailored a statute is, the less protected speech it reaches, and concomitantly the less it impinges upon First Amendment freedoms. The modified `burden of proof' test announced by the Burson plurality does not dictate that we consider whether, in achieving its goals, there are no alternatives available to the State which are less burdensome on First Amendment freedoms. Rather, we are required only to examine the extent to which the means chosen by the State burdens the exercise of First Amendment rights, i.e. whether those rights are significantly impinged by the State action. We stress that there is no mathematical formula which marks the zones of permissible and impermissible regulation of speech, no `litmus-paper test' that will separate valid from invalid restrictions. Burson, supra, ___ U.S. at ___, 112 S.Ct. at 1857, quoting Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 789, 103 S.Ct. 1564, 1570, 75 L.Ed.2d 547 (1983), quoting Storer v. Brown, 415 U.S. 724, 730, 94 S.Ct. 1274, 1279, 39 L.Ed.2d 714 (1974). The constitutional problem with LSA-R.S. 18:1462(A)(3) and (4), as construed by this Court in our response to the Fifth Circuit's certified question, is not that their effect reaches as far as 600 feet from polling places. [22] Nor are these subsections invalid solely because they impose a prophylactic ban upon all political speech; we have already stated earlier in this opinion that we read Burson to approve such comprehensive restrictions within 100 feet of polling places. Rather, today we hold only that when both of these aspects of the challenged provisions operate in tandem, extending a total ban on political speech to a distance of 600 feet from polling places, the resulting limitation of free speech at that point overburdens or significantly impinges First Amendment freedoms. The Burson plurality found it sufficient to say that in establishing a 100 foot boundary, Tennessee is on the constitutional side of the line; we find it sufficient to say that in establishing a 600 foot boundary which proscribes all manner of political speech, not just speech related to matters on the ballot, Louisiana has crossed that line.