The Supreme Court has come up with a new regulation banning demonstrations on its grounds, two days after a broader anti-demonstration law was declared unconstitutional.
The regulation bans activities on the court's grounds or building such as picketing, speech-making, marching, vigils or religious services "that involve the communication or expression of views or grievances, engaged in by one or more persons, the conduct of which is reasonably likely to draw a crowd or onlookers."
It says that "casual use by visitors or tourists" that isn't likely to attract a crowd is not banned. That may be a way of addressing the concern posed by a federal judge who threw out the law barring processions and expressive banners on the court's grounds.
Didn't I read something somewhere about our right to petition the government? Oh, yeah, it's in that pesky old First Amendment. How can we trust a court to protect our rights when it doesn't even honor them?
