Iskon Miami v. Miami-Dade County

147 F.3d 1282
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 27, 1998
Docket97-5304
StatusPublished

This text of 147 F.3d 1282 (Iskon Miami v. Miami-Dade County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Iskon Miami v. Miami-Dade County, 147 F.3d 1282 (11th Cir. 1998).

Opinion

[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________ FILED No. 97-5304 U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT 2/18/03 D. C. Docket No. 96-28-CIV-WMH THOMAS K. KAHN CLERK

ISKCON MIAMI, INC., a Florida nonprofit religious corporation, VERNE MEIS, an individual, Plaintiffs-Appellants,

versus

METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, GARY DELLAPA, Aviation Director of Miami International Airport, Defendants-Appellees.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _________________________

(July 27, 1998)

Before EDMONDSON and BARKETT, Circuit Judges, and ALARCÓN*, Senior Circuit Judge.

____________________ *Honorable Arthur L. Alarcón, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, sitting by designation. BARKETT, Circuit Judge: Appellants ISKCON Miami, Inc. and Verne Meis (collectively, “ISKCON”)1 appeal from

an adverse summary judgment order rejecting ISKCON’s First Amendment challenge to Dade

County regulations prohibiting solicitation of funds and the sale of literature at Miami

International Airport (“MIA”) and restricting the areas where people may distribute free

literature at the airport. In addition to arguing that the bans on solicitation and sale of literature

are unconstitutional restrictions on speech, ISKCON argues that the areas within MIA where

ISKCON may distribute free literature are inadequate and that County regulations impermissibly

grant the Director of MIA unfettered discretion to select the areas for such First Amendment

activity.

BACKGROUND

In June 1995, Dade County amended its regulations regarding First Amendment activity

at MIA. Section 25-2.2(a) of the Code, the principal regulation challenged here, provides:

No person shall solicit alms or contributions of money or other articles of value, for religious, charitable, or other purpose, and receive money or other articles of value, whether in the form of cash, checks, credit or debit vouchers or any other form of negotiable instruments in the public areas of the Terminal.

Metropolitan Dade County, Fla., Code, ch. 25, § 25-2.2(a) (1995). ISKCON also challenges §

25-2.2(c) of the Code, which gives the Director of MIA

the authority to prescribe from time to time restrictions applicable to First Amendment activities at the Airport. Such restrictions . . . may include, but not be limited to, identifying specific locations of First Amendment zones in the Terminal Building and other Airport facilities, limiting the number of persons permitted in such zones,

1 “ISKCON” is an acronym for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Verne Meis is a member of ISKCON.

2 and providing a method for resolving conflicting requests for such zones.

Under § 25-2.2(d), these restrictions “shall be reasonable and appropriate, and made only after a

finding by the Director that the restrictions are necessary to avoid injury, to persons or property,

or to assure the safe and orderly use of the Airport facilities by the public.”

Members of ISKCON espouse the theological and missionary views of the Krishna

consciousness religion. In accordance with the importance of scripture to the Krishna religion,

Krishna adherents are required to venture into public places to distribute religious literature and

solicit support for the religion, a practice known as sankirtan. ISKCON has been practicing

sankirtan at MIA since 1974. Shortly after the new regulations were passed, ISKCON filed this

action. ISKCON argues that the regulations unconstitutionally prohibit solicitation of funds for

the Krishna religion and the sale of religious literature throughout MIA, including the sidewalks

and parking lots outside the terminal buildings. ISKCON also argues that the Director has

unreasonably restricted ISKCON’s ability to engage in the free distribution of literature and

other First Amendment activities at MIA by limiting the places where ISKCON may conduct

such activities to eight areas interspersed along the second level of MIA – where the ticketing,

security, arrival and departure gates, and waiting areas are located. The district court decided

this case on cross-motions for summary judgment, upholding the regulations against ISKCON’s

First Amendment challenge. We affirm.

DISCUSSION

In determining whether the regulations at MIA withstand constitutional scrutiny, we are

guided by the Supreme Court’s decisions in International Society for Krishna Consciousness,

Inc. v. Lee, 505 U.S. 672 (1992), and Lee v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness,

3 Inc., 505 U.S. 830 (1992) (per curiam) (collectively, “Lee”).2 In Lee, the Supreme Court

considered a challenge brought by ISKCON to restrictions on the sale and distribution of

literature and solicitation of contributions in New York’s airports.

In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Rehnquist, a majority of the Court found the

solicitation ban constitutional. Because the plaintiffs in Lee sought access to government

property to engage in protected speech, the Court analyzed the constitutionality of the regulation

under the public forum doctrine. Under this doctrine, regulations on speech in traditionally

public fora such as municipal sidewalks and parks are subject to strict scrutiny, as are regulations

in fora designated by the government to be used for expressive activities. Id. at 678; Cornelius v.

NAACP Legal Defense & Educ. Fund, 473 U.S. 788, 800 (1985); Perry Educ. Ass’n v. Perry

Local Educators’ Ass’n, 460 U.S. 37, 45 (1983). All other government property is nonpublic,

and the government may restrict speech in nonpublic fora as long as the restrictions are

reasonable and viewpoint-neutral. Lee, 505 U.S. at 679. The Court in Lee concluded that the

airport terminals at issue were nonpublic fora, reasoning that airport terminals could not qualify

as public fora, because, “given the lateness with which the modern air terminal has made its

appearance, it hardly qualifies for the description of having ‘immemorially . . . time out of mind’

been held in the public trust and used for purposes of expressive activity.” Lee, 505 U.S. at 680

(quoting Hague v. Committee for Indus. Org., 307 U.S. 496, 515 (1939)). “[I]t cannot fairly be

said that an airport terminal has as a principal purpose promoting ‘the free exchange of ideas.’

To the contrary, . . . Port Authority management considers the purpose of the terminals to be the

2 The several opinions which comprise the Court’s decisions in the two Lee cases are reported separately in the official Supreme Court reporters. For the sake of convenience, we refer to all of these opinions collectively as “Lee.”

4 facilitation of passenger air travel, not the promotion of expression.” Id. at 682 (quoting

Cornelius, 473 U.S. at 800).

Although restrictions on speech in nonpublic fora are not subject to strict scrutiny, “[t]he

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147 F.3d 1282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iskon-miami-v-miami-dade-county-ca11-1998.