Ginsburg, Sotomayor Dissent from Cert Denial in Bumper-Sticker Ejection Suit
Two people ejected from a presidential speech because of their car’s bumper sticker have lost their bid to have their case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Leslie Weise and Alex Young had claimed aides to President George W. Bush violated their First Amendment rights, but a federal appeals court dismissed their lawsuit, according to the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Their bumper sticker had read “No More Blood for Oil.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in an opinion (PDF) joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented from the cert denial. The Constitution doesn’t allow officials to exclude persons simply “for holding discordant views,” Ginsburg wrote.
The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said the officials were entitled to immunity because there was no precedent on “how to treat the ejection of a silent attendee from an official speech” based on protected expression outside the event.
