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Airport Comm’rs v. Jews for Jesus, 482 U.S. 569 (1987)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Airport Comm’rs v. Jews for Jesus, 482 U.S. 569 (1987)
Board of Airport Commissioners of the City of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. No. 86-104 Argued March 3, 1987 Decided June 15, 1987 482 U.S. 569
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE NINTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
Petitioner Board of Airport Commissioners of Los Angeles adopted a resolution banning all "First Amendment activities" within the "Central Terminal Area" at Los Angeles International Airport. Respondents, a nonprofit religious corporation and a minister for that organization, filed an action in Federal District Court challenging the resolution’s constitutionality, after the minister had stopped distributing free religious literature in the airport’s Central Terminal Area when warned against doing so by an airport officer. The court held that the Central Terminal Area was a traditional public forum under federal law, and that the resolution was facially unconstitutional under the Federal Constitution. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
Held: The resolution violates the First Amendment. It is facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment overbreadth doctrine regardless of whether the forum involved is a public or nonpublic forum (which need not be decided here). The resolution’s facial overbreadth is substantial, since it prohibits all protected expression and does not merely regulate expressive activity that might create problems such as congestion or the disruption of airport users’ activities. Under such a sweeping ban, virtually every individual who enters the airport may be found to violate the resolution by engaging in some "First Amendment activit[y]." The ban would be unconstitutional even if the airport were a nonpublic forum, because no conceivable governmental interest would justify such an absolute prohibition of speech. Moreover, the resolution’s words leave no room for a narrowing, saving construction by state courts. Cf. Baggett v. Bullitt, 377 U.S. 360. The suggestion that the resolution is not substantially overbroad because it is intended to reach only expressive activity unrelated to airport-related purposes is unpersuasive. Much nondisruptive speech may not be airport related, but is still protected speech even in a nonpublic forum. Moreover, the vagueness of the suggested construction -- which would result in giving airport officials the power to decide in the first instance whether a given activity is airport-related -- presents serious constitutional difficulty. Pp. 572-577.
785 F.2d 791, affirmed.
O’CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. WHITE, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., joined, post, p. 577.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Airport Comm’rs v. Jews for Jesus, 482 U.S. 569 (1987) in 482 U.S. 569 482 U.S. 570. Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=14D64RVCEAYHCYR.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Airport Comm’rs v. Jews for Jesus, 482 U.S. 569 (1987), in 482 U.S. 569, page 482 U.S. 570. Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=14D64RVCEAYHCYR.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Airport Comm’rs v. Jews for Jesus, 482 U.S. 569 (1987). cited in 1987, 482 U.S. 569, pp.482 U.S. 570. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=14D64RVCEAYHCYR.
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