International Society for Krishna Consciousness of California, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles

In 1997, the City of Los Angeles enacted an ordinance prohibiting persons from soliciting funds at Los Angeles International Airport. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness of California, Inc., sought an injunction in federal district court, which ruled that the ordinance violated the free speech clause of the California Constitution. The city appealed and, following protracted litigation, the Ninth Circuit Court of *450 Appeals requested that this court decide the following question: “Is Los Angeles International Airport a public forum under the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution?” California Rules of Court, rule 8.548 provides that this court may decide a question of California law upon which there is no controlling precedent at the request of a federal court of appeals if “[t]he decision could determine the outcome of a matter pending in the requesting court. . . .”

We granted the Ninth Circuit’s request and directed the parties to address the following questions: “1) Is Los Angeles International Airport a public forum under the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution? 2) If so, does the ordinance at issue violate the…

The court’s opinion, authored by Justice Moreno, holds that a city ordinance prohibiting the solicitation and receipt of funds in public areas of Los Angeles International Airport does not violate the California Constitution’s liberty of speech clause (Cal. Const., art. I, § 2, subd. (a) [“A law may not restrain or abridge liberty of speech or press.”]) but instead is a valid time, place, and manner restriction on expressive activity.

I join in that holding, but I do so only under compulsion of this court’s decision in Los Angeles Alliance for Survival v. City of Los Angeles (2000) 22 Cal.4th 352 [ 93 Cal.Rptr.2d 1 , 993 P.2d 334 ]. There, a majority of this court held that under the state Constitution’s liberty of speech clause, a city *461 ordinance prohibiting, at specified locations, any solicitation for the immediate donation of funds was not a content-based regulation of speech and that such an ordinance was to be evaluated as a time, place, and manner restriction on speech. (Los Angeles Alliance for Survival v. City of Los Angeles, supra, at p. 357.) I disagreed, concluding that a solicitation ban is based on the content of speech, and therefore its validity must be…

I agree with the majority that the challenged ordinance governing the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) does not violate the California Constitution. But I would answer the question the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals posed, identify the legal standard applicable to that answer, and apply that standard to determine whether the ordinance is valid.

The Ninth Circuit requested this court to answer this question: “Is Los Angeles International Airport a public forum under the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution?” (See Cal. Const., art. I, § 2, subd. (a).) Consistent with the United States Supreme Court’s resolution of the same question under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, I would answer that LAX is not a public forum for free speech purposes under the California Constitution. (See International Soc. for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee (1992) 505 U.S. 672 [ 120 L.Ed.2d 541 , 112 S.Ct. 2701 ] (Lee).) This answer does not mean free speech rights do not exist at LAX. It just means that speech at LAX receives a lower level of protection than speech receives at traditional free speech zones such as parks and public squares. LAX is not the…

Dennis J. Herrera, City Attorney (San Francisco), Danny Chou, Chief of Complex and Special Litigation, Mara Rosales, Chief Airport Counsel, Burk E. Delventhal, Ellen Forman and Rafal Ofierski, Deputy City Attorneys; Patricia B. Heilbron, Deputy Port Attorney (Oakland); and Breton Lobner for City and County of San Francisco, League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties, Port of Oakland and San Diego County Regional Airport Authority as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Kent S. Scheidegger and Maritza B. Meskan for Criminal Justice Legal Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Law Offices of David M. Liberman, David M. Liberman; Law Offices of Robert C. Moest and Robert C. Moest for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

Peter J. Eliasberg; Julia Harumi Mass, Alan L. Schlosser; and David Blair-Loy for American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Respondents.

MORENO, J.—

In 1997, the City of Los Angeles enacted an ordinance prohibiting persons…