Court Opinion

ID: 9729277
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:30:40.330053+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:59.367634
License: Public Domain

FERREN, Associate Judge,
concurring in the result:
I concur in the result but not in the opinion of the court. Given the criteria announced in Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators’ Association, 460 U.S. 37, 45-47, 103 S.Ct. 948, 954-956, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983), I conclude that the plaza area and main entrance steps of the Supreme Court comprise a “nonpublic forum,” id. at 49, 103 S.Ct. at 959, since those areas — on the record before us — are “[p]ublic property which is not by tradition or designation a forum for public communication.” Id. at 46, 103 S.Ct. at 957. On this premise, I agree with my colleagues that the first clause of 40 U.S.C. § 13k (1982), making it unlawful to “parade, stand, or move in processessions or assemblages in the Supreme Court Building or grounds,” is not unconstitutional. In denying everyone the right to engage in “processions or assemblages” in and around the Court, the statute is reasonable, see, e.g., Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 559, 85 S.Ct. 476, 13 L.Ed.2d 487 (1965), and does not discriminate against persons attempting to *1146express a particular point of view. Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 105 S.Ct. 3439, 3451, 87 L.Ed.2d 567 (1985); Perry Education Association, 460 U.S. at 46, 103 S.Ct. at 955.
If, however, the plaza area and main steps of the Supreme Court were a traditional public forum, as the majority assumes it may be, I am not prepared to say that the blanket prohibition against processions or assemblages, while “content-neutral,” amounts to “reasonable time, place, and manner regulations” that “are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication.” United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 177, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 1706, 75 L.Ed.2d 736 (1983) (quoting Perry Education Association, 460 U.S. at 45, 103 S.Ct. at 954).