1st Amendment Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Veronica Price, et al. v. City of Chicago, et al.

Case No.: 17-2196

Officials: SYKES and BARRETT, Circuit Judges, and GRIESBACH, Chief District Judge.

Focus: 1^st Amendment Violation

Pro-life “sidewalk counselors” sued to enjoin Chicago’s “bubble zone” ordinance, which bars them from approaching within eight feet of a person in the vicinity of an abortion clinic if their purpose is to engage in counseling, education, leafletting, handbilling, or protest. The plaintiffs contend that the floating bubble zone is a facially unconstitutional content-based restriction on the freedom of speech. The district judge dismissed the claim, relying on Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703 (2000), which upheld a nearly identical Colorado law against a similar First Amendment challenge.

Hill’s content-neutrality holding is hard to reconcile with both McCullen and Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 135 S. Ct. 2218 (2015), and its narrow-tailoring holding is in tension with McCullen. Still, neither McCullen nor Reed overruled Hill, so it remains binding on us. Moreover, Chicago’s bubble-zone law is narrower than the one upheld in Hill: Colorado’s no approach zone applies within a 100-foot radius of a clinic entrance; Chicago’s applies within a 50-foot radius. Lastly, we would open a circuit split if we allowed this facial challenge to move forward. The Third Circuit, applying Hill, upheld Pittsburgh’s 8-foot bubble zone against a facial challenge without requiring an evidentiary showing from the City. See Brown v. City of Pittsburgh, 586 F.3d 263, 270–73 (3d Cir. 2009). We affirm the judgment.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.