Last month, I blogged about a pro bono cert petition that I had filed in Scott v. Saint John’s Church in the Wilderness. The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that bars my clients from (among other things) displaying “gruesome images” of aborted fetuses outside a church; the court acknowledged that this was a content-based speech restriction, but said that the injunction passed the “strict scrutiny” required for such restrictions, because it was supposedly narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest in shielding children from such speech. Our petition argues that the Supreme Court should consider the case.
Today, four friend of the court briefs were filed supporting the petition; I plan on blogging briefly about each, and linking to each. The other side’s brief in opposition was also initially due today, but they have gotten an extension until May 6; I will blog a link to that brief as well, when it is filed.
The first brief I wanted to mention was the brief from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. The Center also demonstrates using similar images, and has litigated similar cases in the past. The brief’s general approach and perspective is quite similar to that in the petition.