Board of Airport Commissioners of City of Los Angeles v. Jews For Jesus, Inc, No. 86-104
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
| Writing for the Court | O'CONNOR |
| Citation | 96 L.Ed.2d 500,482 U.S. 569,107 S.Ct. 2568 |
| Parties | BOARD OF AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS OF the CITY OF LOS ANGELES, et al., Petitioners v. JEWS FOR JESUS, INC. and Alan Howard Snyder, aka Avi Snyder |
| Docket Number | No. 86-104 |
| Decision Date | 15 June 1987 |
v.
JEWS FOR JESUS, INC. and Alan Howard Snyder, aka Avi Snyder.
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, 84 S.Ct. 1316, 12 L.Ed.2d 377. 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 (CA9 1986) affirmed.
Page 570
O'CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. WHITE, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., joined, post, p. ----.
James R. Kapel, Los Angeles, Cal., for petitioners.
Jay Alan Sekulow, Stone Mountain, Ga., for respondents.
Justice O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
The issue presented in this case is whether a resolution banning all "First Amendment activities" at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) violates the First Amendment.
On July 13, 1983, the Board of Airport Commissioners (Board) adopted Resolution No. 13787, which provides in pertinent part:
"NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Airport Commissioners that the Central Terminal Area at Los Angeles International Airport is not
Page 571
open for First Amendment activities by any individual and/or entity;
* * * * *
"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that after the effective date of this Resolution, if any individual and/or entity seeks to engage in First Amendment activities within the Central Terminal Area at Los Angeles International Airport, said individual and/or entity shall be deemed to be acting in contravention of the stated policy of the Board of Airport Commissioners in reference to the uses permitted within the Central Terminal Area at Los Angeles International Airport; and
"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if any individual or entity engages in First Amendment activities within the Central Terminal Area at Los Angeles International Airport, the City Attorney of the City of Los Angeles is directed to institute appropriate litigation against such individual and/or entity to ensure compliance with this Policy statement of the Board of Airport Commissioners. . . ." App. 4a-5a.
Respondent Jews for Jesus, Inc., is a nonprofit religious corporation. On July 6, 1984, Alan Howard Snyder, a minister of the Gospel for Jews for Jesus, was stopped by a Department of Airports peace officer while distributing free religious literature on a pedestrian walkway in the Central Terminal Area at LAX. The officer showed Snyder a copy of the resolution, explained that Snyder's activities violated the resolution, and requested that Snyder leave LAX. The officer warned Snyder that the city would take legal action against him if he refused to leave as requested. Id., at 19a-20a. Snyder stopped distributing the leaflets and left the airport terminal. Id., at 20a.
Jews for Jesus and Snyder then filed this action in the District Court for the Central District of California, challeng-
Page 572
ing the constitutionality of the resolution under both the California and Federal Constitutions. First, respondents contended that the resolution was facially unconstitutional under Art. I, § 2, of the California Constitution and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution because it bans all speech in a public forum. Second, they alleged that the resolution had been applied to Jews for Jesus in a discriminatory manner. Finally, respondents urged that the resolution was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.
When the case came before the District Court for trial, the parties orally stipulated to the facts, and the District Court treated the trial briefs as cross-motions for summary judgment. The District Court held that the Central Terminal Area was a traditional public forum under federal law, and that the resolution was facially unconstitutional under the United States Constitution. The District Court declined to reach the other issues raised by Jews for Jesus, and did not address the constitutionality of the resolution under the California Constitution. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed. 785 F.2d 791 (1986). Relying on Rosen v. Port of Portland, 641 F.2d 1243 (CA9 1981), and Kuszynski v. Oakland, 479 F.2d 1130 (CA9 1973), the Court of Appeals concluded that "an airport complex...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Board of Trustees of State University of New York v. Fox, No. 87-2013
...v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451, 458, 107 S.Ct. 2502, 2508, 96 L.Ed.2d 398 (1987); Board of Airport Comm'rs of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569, 574, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 2572, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987). Even assuming that the university may prohibit all forms of commercial speech from a stud......
-
Caribbean Intern. News Corp. v. Fuentes Agostini, No. Civ. 96-1502(HL).
...than risk prosecution or undertake to have the law declared partially invalid'." Bd. of Airport Comm'rs of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, 482 U.S. 569, 574, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 2572, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987) (quoting Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc., 472 U.S. 491, 503, 105 S.Ct. 2794, 2802, 86 L.......
-
Krafchow v. Town of Woodstock, No. 96-CV-1538 (LEK/DRH).
...standard. Kokinda, 497 U.S. at 726, 110 S.Ct. 3115; see also Board of Airport Comm'rs of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569, 572-573, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987). If, however, a regulation affects speech in a public forum, courts animate a more stringent inquiry. Ko......
-
Sullivan v. City of Augusta, No. 06-1177.
...will render unnecessary or substantially modify the federal constitutional question." Bd. of Airport Comm'rs v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569, 575-76, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987). A district court's abstention ruling is reviewed on appeal for abuse of discretion. Sheerbonnet,......
-
Doe v. Nebraska, Nos. 8:09CV456
...desire to engage in legally protected expression but who may refrain from doing so.’ ” Board of Airport Comm'rs v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569, 574, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987), quoting Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc., 472 U.S. 491, 503, 105 S.Ct. 2794, 86 L.Ed.2d 394 (19......
-
Lind v. Grimmer, Civ. No. 92-00415 ACK.
...Campaign Spending Commission. 4. The statute is unconstitutionally overbroad, Board of Airport Com'rs of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, 482 U.S. 569, 107 S.Ct. 2568 (1987); Forsyth County, Ga. v. Nationalist Movement, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (1992), and cannot be narrowly construed. Board of Airport......
-
Hardwick ex rel. Hardwick v. Heyward, Civil Action No. 4:06-1042-TLW.
...so rather than risk prosecution or undertake to have the law declared partially invalid." Bd. of Airport Comm'rs v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569, 574, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987) (citation and internal quotation marks However, the overbreadth doctrine is not "casually employ......
-
O'Connell v. City of New Bern, NO. 7:18-CV-86-FL
...or undertake to have the law declared partially invalid.’ Bd. of Airport Comm'rs of City of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569, 574, 107 S.Ct. 2568, 96 L.Ed.2d 500 (1987) (quoting 447 F.Supp.3d 484 Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc., 472 U.S. 491, 503, 105 S.Ct. 2794, 86 L.Ed.......