* The Chicago Tribune in 2020…
People who want to pass out literature or evangelize in Millennium Park will now be able to do so after a federal judge has temporarily barred the city of Chicago from restricting free speech privileges there.
U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey granted a preliminary injunction Thursday that allows people to evangelize and campaign in the park.
Blakey called the city’s rules about visitors exercising their First Amendment rights in limited areas of the park “constitutionally flawed in several respects.”
The ruling comes six months after a group of Wheaton College students filed a lawsuit against the city, saying Millennium Park rules unconstitutionally restricted their freedom of speech and their free exercise of religion in a public space.
* The Sun-Times today…
Laura Hois was surprised last July when she saw a 15-by-15-foot “free speech zone” marked in a corner of Fishel Park in Downers Grove.
She came to the park to promote her candidacy for the DuPage County Board before a concert. But a Downers Grove Park District employee told her that she couldn’t mingle and talk politics with attendees, she said. She could only do so in the “free speech zone.” […]
Derke Price, corporation counsel for the Park District, said the free speech zones were created last year out of a concern for safety. The ordinance was made in response to national protests during President Donald Trump’s first term, Price said.
Price said the ordinance is lawful because it only restricts free speech during park district programming such as soccer games or concerts. […]
Rebecca Glenberg, senior supervising attorney for ACLU Illinois, said she found it “particularly disturbing” that the ordinance could be applied to a single person distributing literature in a park.
Discuss.
- SKI - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 11:32 am:
The Illinois State Fair has a “Free Speech” corral down gate 11 entrance near the Multipurpose Arena parking / RV lots.
- Excitable Boy - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 11:45 am:
Based on what I’ve read about Laura Hois I would find any interaction with her to be annoying and would quickly tell her I didn’t wish to speak to her. That would be my right to do, as it would be her right to try to engage in a public place.
Shame on the DG park district.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 11:47 am:
I went to a university that had a “free speech zone.” The zone was huge and effectively in the middle of campus. It didn’t prevent university students from being able to utilize their free speech elsewhere on campus, but to table elsewhere on campus required registration and permission to do so. No registration or permission? Go ahead and set up in the free speech zone. It had several practical benefits, especially since the free speech zone was open to non-students.
A smallish group of students handing out literature in other places on campus was fine. If they wanted a table, wanted signs, etc, they needed permission or needed to go to the “free speech zone.”
Want to use a megaphone to yell about the bible? Free speech zone.
Want to have an impromptu anti-war protest? Free speech zone.
Want to invite a speaker and hold a rally as part of your protest? Don’t want to fill out forms for permission to do it somewhere else? Free speech zone!
Again — other spaces could be reserved as needed or wanted.
For some reason it was only the bigots that got upset about not being able to yell at students about the evils of abortion or whatever anti-LGBTQ stuff on other areas on campus.
===the city’s rules about visitors exercising their First Amendment rights in limited areas of the park “constitutionally flawed in several respects.”===
This probably means that they need to just revise their policy. Obviously a persons first amendment rights don’t entitle them to the use of whatever public grounds or public facilities they want whenever they want for whatever use they want, but something like “you can only pass out pamphlets in this small and inconvenient place” isn’t going to work.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 11:51 am:
=U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey granted a preliminary injunction Thursday that allows people to evangelize and campaign in the park.
Blakey called the city’s rules about visitors exercising their First Amendment rights in limited areas of the park “constitutionally flawed in several respects.=
This is great news - the city needs to recognize that Millennium Park is a Traditional, or quintessential, public forum. And they can not seek to put in place time and manner restrictions on speech.
https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/public-forum-doctrine/#
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 11:53 am:
===This is great news===
It’s also the setup from five years ago. Pay attention
- Bob - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 12:46 pm:
Bet if I encounter her playing her games, she’ll almost certainly want something done about MY speech when I respond.
By all means, lady. Let’s have a verbal free-for-all in the park. Bring your boys to the party.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 12:59 pm:
===And they can not seek to put in place time and manner restrictions on speech===
Ah, case law indicates that reasonable regulations can be imposed as to the time, place, and manner so long as they are content neutral, fit a specific government purpose, and there are other avenues available for the expression.
The university I attended created reasonable rules regarding the time, place, and manner for most of campus and then had the very large and not out of the way “free speech zone” as an avenue available for the expressive activity. The term “free speech zone” gets thrown around and defined differently, which can create a problem when those spaces are strictly enforced and the restrictions on using the space become unreasonable.
For example, the 1st Amendment doesn’t mean someone can have their protest at the pavilion in the park when someone else has already reserved the pavilion for their family reunion.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 1:13 pm:
I guess it might be helpful to point this out in the comments section — the candidate in question wanted to campaign as a political office when the space at the park was reserved for the summer concert series — “before it started.”
Does someone have a 1st amendment right to campaign for public office at a publicly funded summer concert series? I would lean towards no. What other options did the candidate have? Oh — they set up a space where she could have specifically campaigned — in the park during the concert — if she wanted to. Seems pretty reasonable. I also think a reasonable alternative would have been campaigning on the sidewalk at the park entrance.
- Garfield Ridge Guy - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 2:04 pm:
Every free speech zone is a constitutional disaster. The practice should be abolished immediately (as every cubic square foot of America is a free speech zone).
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 2:13 pm:
==as every cubic square foot of America is a free speech zone==
Yeah, good luck with that.
And, you’re wrong by the way. Where did you get the idea that you are allowed to say whatever you want wherever you want without consequence? No such guarantee exists. The Constitution doesn’t protect any such thing.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 2:26 pm:
===(as every cubic square foot of America is a free speech zone).===
Nonsense. Time, place and manner restrictions have been allowed by the courts for years. Remember when groups wanted to demonstrate on the expressways? Are you in favor of that?
- Banish Misfortune - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 2:32 pm:
My family goes to the Grant Park Orchestra concerts every summer - maybe three or four times. It is so lovely, we picnic and then are quiet for the performance. It would be a real shame if we could be accosted during the performance. I would support rules that let people enjoy the concert and limit politicking and proselytizing to before or after.
- Trying to be Rational - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 3:21 pm:
Candy Dagood — what university? It would be interesting to see if the policy remains unchanged from when you were there.
- Anyone Remember - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 3:58 pm:
===as every cubic square foot of America is a free speech zone===
Reminds me of Westboro Baptist Church …
- Bob - Tuesday, Mar 18, 25 @ 5:06 pm:
@Anyone
I remember the most effective protests against WBC were drowning them out with hogs and standing directly in front of them so as to obscure them from public view.