Opinion ID: 775766
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mary Melfi

Text: 14 We begin by reviewing the District Court's finding that Mary Melfi likely violated F.A.C.E., and that the plaintiffs are therefore entitled to injunctive relief against her. For the reasons set forth we agree that injunctive relief is warranted. 15 The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act provides civil remedies and criminal penalties against anyone who by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person because that person is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from, obtaining or providing reproductive health services.... 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(1). The statute defines physical obstruction as rendering impassable ingress to or egress from a facility that provides reproductive health services... or rendering passage to or from such a facility... unreasonably difficult or hazardous. Id. § 248(e)(4). 16 F.A.C.E. empowers states to bring civil suits seeking remedies based upon the threat of future violation, even without proof of past violations. If the Attorney General of a State has reasonable cause to believe that any person or group of persons is being, has been, or may be injured by conduct constituting a violation of this section, such Attorney General may commence a civil action in the name of such State.... Id. § 248(c)(3)(A). Such remedies may include temporary, preliminary or permanent injunctive relief, compensatory damages, and civil penalties.... Id. § 248(c)(3)(B). 17 On appeal, defendant Melfi does not dispute the District Court's determination that her behavior was intentional or motivated by the fact that the clinics provide reproductive health services. Instead, she contends that her protest activities do not constitute acts of force, threats of force, or physical obstruction. 18 As a general matter, the District Court determined that the plaintiffs are likely to prove that certain protestor activities violated F.A.C.E. by disrupting access to and the administration of care at reproductive health care facilities through physical obstruction and threats of force. 2 The record on that point appears strong. In terms of physical obstruction, the record contains evidence that some of the defendants impeded the operation of those facilities by engaging in protest activities in front of facility entrances and driveways. Protestors often walked across driveways so as to meet oncoming cars, and then deliberately attempted to slow or even stop the cars' progress. Although the protestors' purpose may have been to communicate their views, their activities had the effect of obstructing access to the facilities and making egress and ingress unreasonably difficult for patients. The record shows that some of the defendants have also interfered with pedestrians as they approach the building, shouting at them and standing in front of them as the pedestrians tried to approach and enter the building. When allowed close to facility entrances, the protestors have sometimes blocked clinic doors by standing directly in front of them and trying to communicate with those entering or leaving facility buildings. This behavior was apparently so extensive that it rendered building access unreasonably difficult. In addition to this evidence showing that protestor activity often obstructed access to clinics, there were also isolated instances of defendants threatening clinic workers, including one defendant who told clinic employees that they would die before the day ended. 19 General findings like this, however, are of limited utility with respect to Melfi. The validity of the District Court's injunction against Melfi turns on the findings made with regard to her in particular. Having reviewed those findings, we conclude that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their F.A.C.E. claim against her, and therefore injunctive relief is warranted. 3 Melfi has participated in many of the disruptive protests discussed above, and much of the general evidence is supplemented by specific evidence about Melfi's protest conduct. The District Court found that Melfi participated in the types of protest behavior outside of clinic entrances that will likely be shown to have physically obstructed clinic entrances. The record is replete with consistently egregious conduct by Melfi in this regard. She frequently protests at PPR, where she has obstructed driveway access, using her body to slow moving cars and pushing literature and pamphlets through car windows. Her activities have required police intervention on several occasions. One tactic she employs to slow access to the PPR parking lot involves dropping an item on the ground and then retrieving it in slow motion. She often confronts patients at close range, shouting at them through a bullhorn, and has even blocked patients inside their automobiles by standing up close to the car doors. At least at this preliminary stage of the litigation, we conclude it is likely that the plaintiffs will carry their burden in demonstrating that Melfi physically obstructed patient access to covered facilities in violation of F.A.C.E. 20 In reviewing the substantive legal basis for a typical injunction, we would leave the matter having concluded that the District Court's liability findings did not constitute an abuse of discretion. We remain mindful, however, of the fact that an erroneous application of F.A.C.E. threatens to impinge legitimate First Amendment activity. In fulfilling our duty to conduct an independent examination of the record as a whole, see Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 499 (1984), we must note our conclusion that the evidence adduced at the preliminary injunction hearing was less overwhelming than the District Court suggested. At times, the District Court characterized legitimate protest activities as illegal interference with clinic access. Under the rubric of constructive obstruction, an uncertain and potentially slippery concept, the District Court failed to differentiate illegal protestor activity from protected and typical, albeit aggressive, protest activities. The District Court grouped together defendants who block driveways with defendants who approach and yell at patients. Among the abusive behavior that the District Court enumerated as part of the gauntlet of aggressive and frightening approaches, the District Court highlighted protest activity typically deserving of protection. This included those who protest in an `angry' tone, and one protestor's habit of shouting at arriving patients in a loud deep voice. The District Court concluded, without explanation, that patients' reactions to this behavior was limited to the conduct, and not the message of the protestors. 4 As much as we might idealize the antiseptic, rational exchange of views, expressions of anger, outrage or indignation nonetheless play an indispensable role in the dynamic public exchange safeguarded by the First Amendment. The fact that such protests make approaching health facilities unpleasant and even emotionally difficult does not automatically mean that such protest activities may be curtailed. It is worth reinforcing that we must tolerate even views that upset our most heartfelt and deeply held convictions. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea. Wolin v. Port of N.Y. Auth., 392 F.2d 83, 91 n.10 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 940 (1968) (quoting Terminiello v. City of Chicago, 337 U.S. 1, 4 (1949)). 21 We are also troubled by the District Court's willingness to characterize a broad range of protestor statements as threats without giving them the full analysis required by the First Amendment. When determining whether a statement qualifies as a threat for First Amendment purposes, a district court must ask whether the threat on its face and in the circumstances in which it is made is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to the person threatened, as to convey a gravity of purpose and imminent prospect of execution.... United States v. Kelner, 534 F.2d 1020, 1027 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1022, 1027 (1976). Although proof of the threat's effect on its recipient is relevant to this inquiry, United States v. Malik, 16 F.3d 45, 49 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 968 (1994), a court must be sure that the recipient is fearful of the execution of the threat by the speaker (or the speaker's co-conspirators). Thus, generally, a person who informs someone that he or she is in danger from a third party has not made a threat, even if the statement produces fear. This may be true even where a protestor tells the objects of protest that they are in danger and further indicates political support for the violent third parties. See Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette, Inc. v. Am. Coalition of Life Activists, 244 F.3d 1007, 1015 (9th Cir. 2001), rehearing en banc granted, 268 F.3d 908 (9th Cir. 2001). The evidence adduced at the hearing contains many such statements that do not constitute threats even though they may have increased the recipient's apprehension of harm. Yet the District Court did not pay due attention to this difference. 22 Although we are skeptical as to whether any of Melfi's statements constitute true threats, there is one in particular that illustrates our concern. The District Court found that Melfi threatened a clinic doctor when, soon after the murder of Dr. Bernard Slepian, she told the doctor that killing babies is no different than killing doctors. 5 Given the context, it is understandable that the clinic doctor feared for her safety, and that Melfi's protest and strong rhetoric reinforced that fear. But excessive reliance on the reaction of recipients would endanger First Amendment values, in large part by potentially misconstruing the ultimate source of the fear. Melfi's expression went to the core of her protest message, and the statement (even in context) did not suggest that Melfi was engaged in a plan to harm the clinic doctor. This statement did not indicate the unequivocal immediacy and express intention, Kelner, 534 F.2d at 1027, of a true threat. 6 It was not a direct or even veiled threat, but expression of a political opinion. As such, it is entitled to First Amendment protection. 23 Indeed, we are troubled that the District Court at times overstated the protestors' activities, often by characterizing legitimate First Amendment activity as criminal behavior. Despite these misgivings, however, we are satisfied that the District Court did not abuse its discretion when it determined that Melfi likely violated F.A.C.E. by physically obstructing patient and staff access at PPR. Since we agree with the District Court that the plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim against defendant Melfi, we do not address the preliminary findings that Melfi may also have violated New York State public nuisance and trespass law.