ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
The Supreme Court bolstered the free-speech rights of protesters outside abortion clinics Wednesday, ruling they can confront patients on public sidewalks as long as they stay at least 15 feet away from clinic entrances.
The court did not strip abortion clinics and patients of the considerable protection granted in recent years against violence and intimidation. But the justices said a federal judge went too far in restricting anti-abortion demonstrators in the Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y. areas.
The judge in New York had ordered protesters to stay 15 feet away from any clinic patient or staff member, no matter where they were. But the justices voted 8-1 that such ``floating buffer zones'' violate rights guaranteed by the Constitution's First Amendment.
``They burden more speech than is necessary,'' Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the court.
By a separate 6-3 vote, the court upheld a ``fixed buffer zone'' that keeps demonstrators at least 15 feet away from clinic doors and driveways.
The court, also by a 6-3 vote, upheld that portion of U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara's order requiring so-called sidewalk counselors who approach patients within the fixed buffer zones to retreat when patients indicate a desire not to be counseled.
But no such duty to retreat exists outside the 15-foot fixed buffer, the court said. Rehnquist's opinion discounted ``any generalized right to be left alone on a public street or sidewalk.''
That one line may turn out to be good news for union pickets, gay-rights activists and other protesters, though their causes were not mentioned in Wednesday's decision.
Anti-abortion forces hailed the ruling as a major victory. ``There is no longer an exception to ... free speech ... when the issue deals with abortion,'' said Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice. ``The court has sent a resounding message that you cannot silence a message you disagree with.''
In Wednesday's decision, the court adopted something of a case-by-case approach to judging restrictions imposed on clinic demonstrators - a tack unlikely to end disputes over the sometimes-fine line between free speech and harassment.
The court stopped short of saying a floating buffer zone never can be used against anti-abortion demonstrators. But it refused to allow one in this case - one the justices said ``shows physically abusive conduct, harassment ... and the tendency of even peaceful conversations to devolve into aggressive and sometimes violent conduct.''
The justices ruled in 1994 that judges can bar even peaceful protests from getting too close to abortion clinics when it upheld, by a 6-3 vote, a 36-foot demonstration-free zone around a Florida clinic.
Stephen Breyer was the only justice who voted to uphold the floating buffer zones.
Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas voted to strike down all the restrictions.
Joining Rehnquist in every aspect of the ruling were Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Feminist Majority Foundation's Eleanor Smeal emphasized the court's continued support of efforts to protect access to clinics.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB