Leila Jeanne Hill, Audrey Himmelmann, and Everitt W. Simpson, JR. v. Colorado, et al. (530 U.S. 703)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 28, 2000 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 530 U.S. 703 · 120 S. Ct. 2480
- Decided
- June 28, 2000
- Term
- October Term 1999
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Privacy
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. At issue is the constitutionality of a 1993 Colorado statute that regulates speech-related conduct within 100 feet of the entrance to any health eare facility. The specific section of the statute that is challenged, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-9-122(3) (1999), makes it unlawful within the regulated areas for any person to “knowingly approach” within eight feet of another person, without that person’s consent, “for the purpose of passing a leaflet or handbill to, displaying a sign to, or engaging in oral protest, education, or counseling with such other person....” Although the statute prohibits speakers from approaching unwilling listeners, it does not require a standing speaker to move away from anyone passing by. Nor does it place any restriction on the content of any message that anyone may wish to communicate to anyone else, either inside or outside the regulated areas. It does, however, make it more difficult to give unwanted advice, particularly in the form of a handbill or leaflet, to persons entering or leaving medical facilities. The question is whether the First Amendment rights of the speaker are abridged by the protection the statute provides for the unwilling listener. * — { Five months after the statute was enacted, petitioners filed a complaint in the District Court for Jefferson County, Colorado, praying for a…
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