U.S. Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Antiabortion Group's Appeal Regarding Constitutionality Of Honolulu's Aerial Ad Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider an appeal by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, which opposes abortion rights, to overturn a lower court's ruling upholding the unconstitutionality of a 1996 Honolulu ordinance that bars all aerial advertising, the AP/Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports (Charlton, AP/Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 12/4). In its lawsuit, the group claimed that the Federal Aviation Administration controls the airspace above Honolulu and that the city's ordinance is in conflict with federal law. Robert Muise, the group's attorney, has said that the group's most effective method of advocacy is flying banners with pictures of aborted fetuses above beaches. U.S. District Judge David Ezra in November 2004 denied the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform's motion to declare the ordinance unconstitutional, and the group appealed the case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit court in May unanimously voted to uphold Ezra's ruling. Judge Margaret McKeown in the 9th Circuit Court panel's opinion wrote that the ban does not violate the First Amendment because it is a "reasonable and viewpoint neutral restriction on speech in a nonpublic forum," adding that banner towing is "neither a common means of speaking nor a distinct and traditionally important form of expression." The court panel also acknowledged an association between the visual scenery of Honolulu and its tourism industry (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/25). Center for Bio-Ethical Reform Executive Director Gregg Cunningham said he plans to attempt to bring the case back to a lower court (AP/Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 12/4).

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