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1997 United States Supreme Court case
Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York Full case name Paul Schenck and Dwight Saunders v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York, et al. Citations 519 U.S. 357 (more ) Argument Oral argument The injunction provisions imposing "fixed buffer zone" limitations are constitutional, but the provisions imposing "floating buffer zone" limitations violate the First Amendment.
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Majority Rehnquist, joined by unanimous (Parts I, II–A); Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg (Part II–C); Stevens, O'Connor, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer (Parts II–B, II–D) Concur/dissent Scalia, joined by Kennedy, Thomas Concur/dissent Breyer U.S. Const. amend. I
Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York , 519 U.S. 357 (1997), was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court related to legal protection of access to abortion . The question before the court was whether the First Amendment was violated by placing an injunction on protesters outside abortion clinics . The court ruled in a 6–3 decision that "floating buffer zones" preventing protesters approaching people entering or leaving the clinics were unconstitutional, though "fixed buffer zones" around the clinics themselves remained constitutional. The Court's upholding the fixed buffer was the most important aspect of the ruling, because it was a common feature of injunctions nationwide.[ 1]
Paul Schenck challenged a Federal District Court injunction that restricted "sidewalk counselors " from approaching abortion clinic patients and others with Bibles , tracts and anti-abortion messages. Because these protesters often violently harassed and intimidated patients and staff or prevented them from entering the clinic, the Court upheld the fixed buffer zone around the clinics, although it struck down the floating buffer zone around individuals because its indefinite and movable nature made it difficult to administer and risked overly restricting free speech.[ 1]
Hostetler, Darrin Alan (1997). "Face-to-Face with the First Amendment: Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network and the Right to 'Approach and Offer' in Abortion Clinic Protests". Stanford Law Review . 50 (1). Stanford Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 1: 179–223. doi :10.2307/1229361 . JSTOR 1229361 .
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