Following the D.C. Circuit’s decision to ban demonstrations on the Supreme Court’s front plaza, FTC executive director Gabe Roth released this statement:

This decision looks more like a personally motivated one written by a judge hoping to ingratiate himself to potential future colleagues than one consistent with First Amendment principles.

The justices have decided in the last few years that large buffer zones near sensitive places – like military funerals and abortion clinics – are unconstitutional, so we had hoped the D.C. Circuit would follow those decisions and open up the Supreme Court plaza to public discussion.