"Whether public sidewalks remain traditional public forums with full First Amendment protection for free speech, regardless of their proximity to university or other restricted-use property, remains an important and unsettled issue, marked by inconsistent and unpredictable decisions," Jaffe said. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last year.Įrik Jaffe, an attorney for Keister, expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court's decision to turn away his client's appeal. Supreme Court, prompting him to file an amended civil rights suit against school officials the next year.Ī federal judge in 2020 ruled in favor of the school officials, finding that the sidewalk was a "limited public forum" - a status giving public universities and other government entities more leeway to regulate particular classes of speakers or kinds of speech.
Following losses in lower courts, Keister's appeal in 2018 was turned away by the U.S. Keister in 2017 filed a civil rights suit against University of Alabama officials, arguing that the sidewalk's status under the First Amendment is that of a "traditional public forum," affording speakers the most robust protections available under the Constitution. The university's policy at issue governed when, where and how a person unaffiliated with the school may engage in public speaking on campus including on sidewalks, other than "casual recreational or social activities." It required a permit application 10 business days in advance - which has since been reduced to five business days - and sponsorship by a student organization or university academic department. School officials told Keister he needed a permit for a public-speaking event, prompting him and his companion to leave. In 2016, Keister, along with a companion, preached using an amplifier and distributed Christian literature from a sidewalk adjacent to the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, trying to engage passersby.
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