Thursday, August 12, 2010

Appellate court decides park service requirement violates free speech

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled last week the National Park Service requirement that groups obtain permits for public gatherings, demonstrations or "expressions of views" at parks was unconstitutional. The case Boardley v. Department of Interior arose when Michael Boardley sued the park service in 2007 after being told he would need a permit to distribute "gospel tracts" at the presidential monument in western South Dakota’s Black Hills, The Associated Press reports. The three-judge panel ruled the government can’t require permits for "expressive activities within designated 'free speech areas,'" or other public forums at the 391 national parks.

"Within 'free speech areas,' the government has exceedingly little basis for hushing 'lone pamphleteer[s]' ... in the name of peace and tranquility," the court wrote in its decision. The park service did not return calls for comment about the decision. "The First Amendment is the only permit a Christian or any American needs to engage in free speech on public property. ... Certainly, it made no sense to enforce unconstitutional regulations that deny free speech at the foot of Mount Rushmore — a place where four men who championed America’s freedoms are immortalized in stone," Nate Kellum of the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented Boardley, told AP. (Read more)

The decision was somewhat ironic considering the park service's "role in tracking the nation's history and its efforts to preserve civility in national parks," Kurt Repanshek writes for National Parks Traveler. "How significant the ruling proves to be remains to be seen," Repanshek writes. "According to a survey by a reporter for the McClatchy Newspapers, there are relatively few permits issued annually across the National Park System. While about two dozen are issued in Sequoia National Park every year and upward of 100 in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the bulk of those are to church groups that want to hold services in the parks." (Read more)

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