Expert: Michael Troy - 4/7/2003

Question
With all the Anti-war protests and the Pro-America Rallies, I have a question.
Do any organized protests truly have the right to inhibit public flow...for instance, blocking main thoroughfares, blocking modes of transportation, keeping the general public from going about its daily business? and If they do have that right, what are the rights of those who wish to continue their daily lives? My grandson asked me that question, and I could not truly answer him.  

Answer
Hi Katrina,

The general rule is no, protesters may not break other neutral legitimate laws such as impeding traffic in order to make their political statements.

However, streets are considered a traditional public forum.  In other words, these are a place people traditionally go to communicate ideas or feelings.  The Courts have held that a city may restrict such demonstrations but must provide reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions to balance the interests of protesters against those who want to use the streets for transportation.

For example, if protesters laid down in a busy intersection during rush hour, I think it is pretty clear that police would be justified in arresting them.

On the other hand, if police allowed a pro-government parade to block traffic one day, and then refused to allow an anti-government parade to do the same thing the next day, a court would probably find that the city was acting to suppress the anti-government speech rather than keeping the streets open.

Many other cases are not so clear cut.  But the general rule is that any action taken to limit the protests must be pretty strongly related to another interest, such as keeping traffic moving, and that the protesters have some reasonable time and place to get their message out.  Police can't simply use traffic as an excuse to silence protesters completely.

Because the exact rules in any given situation may be a little gray, many police tend to err on the side of caution and give the protesters some latitude.

If my answer doesn't seem very clear, don't feel bad.  First Amendment lawyers have been struggling with this issue for decades and still haven't come up with a clear solution.

I hope this helps!
- Mike