Pro-Life Amicus Brief in Georgia Adult-Entertainment Case
Yesterday, I blogged about the First Amendment Scholars’ brief (filed by Chris Paolella of Reich & Paolella LLP) supporting the cert petition I filed in Georgia Ass’n of Club Executives v. Georgia. (For my blogging about the cert petition itself, see Parts 1 and 2 here, and see also the amicus brief supporting the cert petition filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the First Amendment Lawyers Ass’n. The state’s brief is due in a month. See also this news article about the amicus briefs in Bloomberg Law.)
Today, I’ll talk about the brief filed by Secular Pro-Life, Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, and five law professors (Helen Alvaré of George Mason, Teresa Stanton Collett of University of St. Thomas (MN), George Dent of Case Western, Stephen Gilles of Quinnipiac, and Robert Pushaw of Pepperdine).
Thanks to Kelsey Hazzard of Secular Pro-Life and my Emory Law colleague Tom Arthur for writing and filing this brief. More generally, thanks to the organizations and people involved for recognizing that we’re all in this together: pro-life people who oppose Hill v. Colorado should support this cert petition even if they have no interest in (or are even opposed to) adult entertainment, because high-level First Amendment doctrines (like the distinction between content discrimination vs. content neutrality) are rarely hermetically sealed to particular business models! Supporting Reed v. Town of Gilbert and making it extremely hard for the government to discriminate in regulation and taxation pays dividends across the board, whether you support nude dancing or anti-abortion counseling.
Here’s the text of the (interesting parts of the) brief:
Interest of Amici Curiae
Secular Pro-Life is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to advance secular arguments against abortion; create space for atheists, agnostics, and other secularists interested in anti-abortion work; and build interfaith coalitions of people interested in advancing secular arguments. Secular Pro-Life envisions a world in which people of all faith traditions, political philosophies, socioeconomic statuses, sexualities, races, and age groups oppose abortion.
Financial precarity motivates nearly three-quarters of abortions. The pro-life movement offers practical resources to help families overcome financial barriers and choose life for their children—but these resources are only useful to the extent that pregnant mothers know about them before it is too late. Therefore, Secular Pro-Life strongly supports the practice of peaceful sidewalk outreach to prevent abortions. Sidewalk outreach is especially critical for religiously unaffiliated mothers, who are disproportionately at risk for abortion compared to the general population, and who may not otherwise learn about free pregnancy supports that are commonly advertised through faith-based channels.
Secular Pro-Life takes an interest in this case because Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703 (2000), inhibits life-saving sidewalk outreach and unconstitutionally censors the speech of Secular Pro-Life’s members.
Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) is a single-issue non-profit organization committed to ending elective abortion, focusing on issues that land at the intersection of pregnancy and parenting. Non-violent direct action, including sidewalk advocacy, is at the core of PAAU’s mission. Buffer zone laws of the type this Court upheld in Hill v. Colorado are designed to impede peaceful challenges to the oppressive status quo.
The following professors teach and/or research in the area of law and religion and are interested in the development of sound doctrine in this area, as well as the protection of free speech rights in Hill v. Colorado-type contexts. [List of professors and affiliations omitted because I gave their names above.]
Summary of Argument
Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703 (2000), was egregiously wrong on the day it was decided and remains so today. Relying on a line of cases that began with City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986), this Court in Hill treated buffer zone laws as content-neutral time, place, and manner regulations subject to only intermediate First Amendment scrutiny. This Court should instead apply strict scrutiny because buffer zone laws are, in both theory and practice, content-based restrictions on disfavored anti-abortion speech.
“To be sure, this Court has not uttered the phrase ‘we overrule Hill.‘” Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, 14
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
