Opinion ID: 1698486
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Traditional public forum

Text: To determine whether or to what extent limits may be placed on protected speech, the United States Supreme Court has generally focused on the place, or forum, where the citizen seeks to speak. Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n, 460 U.S. 37, 103 S.Ct. 948, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983). The federal Court has identified three types of First Amendment fora, the traditional public forum, the public forum created by government designation, and the nonpublic forum, and has tailored an analysis for each. Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 802, 105 S.Ct. at 3449. The forum at issue in the present case consists of public streets, sidewalks, and rights-of-way, which  as the present parties agree  constitute a traditional public forum. See Frisby, 487 U.S. at 480, 108 S.Ct. at 2500. The relevant inquiry in such a case is multi-step and depends initially on whether the restriction is content-based or content-neutral: In places which by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate, the rights of the State to limit expressive activity are sharply circumscribed. At one end of the spectrum are 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. In these quintessential public forums, the government may not prohibit all communicative activity. For the State to enforce a content-based exclusion it must show that its regulation is necessary to serve a compelling state interest and that it is narrowly drawn to achieve that end. The State may also enforce regulations of time, place and manner of expression which are content-neutral, are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication. Perry, 460 U.S. at 45, 103 S.Ct. at 954-55 (quoting Hague v. Committee for Indus. Org., 307 U.S. 496, 515, 59 S.Ct. 954, 964, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (1939)).