Supreme Court declines chance to overturn precedent limiting protests outside abortion clinics

The Supreme Court opted against hearing arguments in a pair of appeals Monday seeking to wipe out protest buffer zones around abortion clinics – a move that, for now, will leave those restrictions in place.

The Supreme Court opted against hearing arguments in a pair of appeals Monday seeking to wipe out protest buffer zones around abortion clinics – a move that, for now, will leave those restrictions in place. Two conservative justices – Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – said they would have heard the cases. The precedent at issue, Thomas wrote in a brief opinion, “has been seriously undermined, if not completely eroded, and our refusal to provide clarity is an abdication of our judicial duty.” Protected zones around clinics have been a legal issue for decades, but the fight was reanimated by the 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Most significantly, the conservative majority signaled in that opinion that it has deep reservations with the 24-year-old precedent allowing cities to create the protest-free areas. In one case, a Missouri non-profit called Coalition Life challenged an ordinance in a Southern Illinois city, Carbondale, that bars people from coming within eight feet of a person entering a health care-facility to engage in “protest, education, or counseling.” Coalition Life organizes “sidewalk counselors” outside abortion clinics. Carbondale ultimately repealed the ordinance this past summer.