[Partridge: Does this mean that 'Free Speech Zones' implemented wherever Riechkommander Bush goes are also illegal? Somehow, I doubt it]

Judge overturns West Palm's clinic buffer law
Palm Beach PostA federal judge has ruled that a city law imposing a buffer zone on abortion protesters violates free-speech rights and has ordered the city not to enforce it. The law — enacted in October after someone set fire to the Presidential Women's Center, the last clinic in Palm Beach County where abortions are done — created a 20-foot buffer around entrances and other public areas outside health-care facilities.

U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled that the city didn't prove the existence of problems that it said the law addressed: restricted patient access and a threat to public safety. Even if it had, the law is too strict, he ruled.

"Freedom of speech is rarely an issue when everyone agrees," Middlebrooks wrote. "Perhaps more than at any other place and any other time, in cases such as this, speech guaranteed by the First Amendment must be protected."

Middlebrooks ruled that the city probably would lose its case at trial, so the law cannot remain in effect until a trial takes place.

A related law prohibiting "unnecessary noise" and "amplified sound" within 100 feet of such facilities can be enforced, although Middlebrooks wrote that he found that ordinance flawed.

Michael DePrimo, an attorney for three women who regularly assemble outside the clinic and who were plaintiffs in the case, said Middlebrooks saw the city's law for what it was.

"It appears in this case you had Mayor Lois Frankel working hand-in-hand with abortion clinic director Mona Reis," DePrimo said. "And the ordinance was designed to suppress the speech of pro-life demonstrations."

The city could be liable for attorney fees, which amount to about $40,000 so far, he said.

Frankel, who joined clinic officials at a news conference just after the fire and before the law was proposed, said city officials will plan their next move.

"Unless my lawyer tells me the fat lady has sung, it's not over," she said.

Clinic director Reis said she hopes a new law can be tailored.

"Needless to say, we're disappointed," she said. "We will continue to do whatever we can do to ensure a safe environment for our patients with dignity."

The city could appeal Middlebrooks' decision or pass a less restrictive law.

Susan Pine, president of the antiabortion group FACE Life who testified on behalf of the three plaintiffs, called the ruling a "big victory."

"It's like we've been vindicated," she said.

Pine said there was only one week when the gatherings were interrupted. Shortly after the suit was filed, Middlebrooks recommended that the city not enforce the law until a hearing was held, and the city complied.

The city's ordinance is just the latest "buffer zone" law to face difficulties once it hit the courtroom. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the part of a New York law that created a "floating buffer" 15 feet around people entering and leaving clinics, although a fixed buffer zone provision was upheld.

In Massachusetts, state lawmakers have wrestled with a "floating buffer" law, which they say might be too confusing and vague to enforce.

In West Palm Beach's case, Middlebrooks ruled that it is more restrictive than other laws because it flatly says demonstrators can't enter a certain area. It does not contain provisions of other laws the Supreme Court has upheld, including allowing demonstrators to approach "willing listeners" and to remain where they are if others approach them.

Middlebrooks concluded that the city's case rested on two premises that the record didn't support.

He noted that 132 police reports on calls to the clinic showed that the demonstrations were largely uneventful. In what Middlebrooks called a typical report, one officer wrote that "their form of protest was peacefully limited to prayer and song" and "I did not observe any laws being broken."

Middlebrooks also concluded that the city relied on a flawed study in concluding that protesters needed to stay 20 feet from the clinic's driveways to avoid being hit by cars. The study didn't take into account that drivers would slow down from the posted speed limit when approaching clinic entrances, Middlebrooks noted.

"The city's ordinances leave protesters with very little practicable alternative means of communication," he wrote.

The city's sound ordinance was flawed because it prohibits "unnecessary noise" without defining unnecessary, Middlebrooks wrote. He added that the center uses loudspeakers to communicate to people outside and sometimes blasts music to drown out protesters. But he said those flaws might be ironed out.

Louis Silber, attorney for the Presidential center, said he hopes Middlebrooks' analysis can be used to craft a law that passes constitutional muster.

"He's laid it out and I think he's given us a great deal of guidance," Silber said. "I'm encouraged in that he didn't say, 'Motion granted, it's unconstitutional, you can't do anything.'"