Chief Justice John Roberts took a sip from his mimosa and looked out across the Supreme Court's 252-by-98 foot buffer zone, where it's illegal for protesters to gather. He had just delivered the court's unanimous opinion in McCullen v. Coakley, striking down the 35-foot buffer zone afforded abortion clinics by the State of Massachusetts, and was enjoying the view.
"It's nice to stand out here and enjoy a bit of fresh air," Roberts remarked, squinting into the distance at a group of protesters from Massachusetts cordoned off in a distant parking lot. "Those people would just love to give me a piece of their mind, the rude folks."
After Roberts waved sarcastically to the crowd, I asked him if he found it problematic that the Supreme Court bars protesters from the building's outdoor plaza while striking down abortion clinics' ability to institute a similar buffer for vulnerable women.
"Not at all," he said, sweeping a hand over the vast expanse. "Our rule ensures unimpeded entry and exit to the building, and prevents the appearance of the court as a body swayed by external influence."
I pointed out that the tiny, 35-foot buffer similarly ensured that women could freely enter abortion clinics without being impeded by protesters holding signs of dead babies and spitting into their faces. But Roberts took exception to my characterization of such protesters.
"The people you see across the plaza screaming? Those are protesters, and they can do what they need to from there without any First-Amendment rights being violated," he said, throwing back the last drops of his mimosa and wiping his mouth on the back of his robe. "But those outside abortion clinics? Those aren't protesters. They are counselors who seek to engage in personal, caring, consensual conversations with women, and can't do that from 35 feet away."
I read aloud to Roberts the following snippet from The Huffington Post, which didn't seem to jibe with his characterization of these caring counselors:
Supporters of the Massachusetts law have said that protestors who show up at the clinics terrify the patients, as escorts struggle to get them through anti-abortion crowds and into the facility. The buffer zone is needed, they say, to create a safe space for the women coming to the clinics.
"We have people with giant, grotesque signs that will scream and videotape patients, and that is something that is directly instilling fear and blocking women's access to their health care," one patient advocate told The Huffington Post.
Roberts, unbowed, said that escorts and police can always guide "patients" to their destination, using air quotes for the word
patients. When I asked if the same couldn't be done for people trying to get in and out of the Supreme Court, Roberts shook his head.
"This isn't a death box, it's a respectable house of law. There's a difference. One can be sullied, the other cannot."
At least, in the end, he was honest about the real rationale.
--§--
David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, recently published by Oneworld Publications.