Portland Feminist Women’s Health Center v. Advocates for Life, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
859 F.2d 681 (1988)
- Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Facts
Portland Feminist Women’s Health Center (plaintiff) sued Advocates for Life, Inc., another pro-life organization, and multiple individuals (defendants) to stop disruptive demonstrations in front of the clinic building and requested a preliminary injunction. A magistrate found the demonstrators could be heard on the second floor where medical services were performed and recommended an injunction. The district court issued a preliminary injunction with numbered paragraphs that prohibited demonstrators from (1) blocking anyone coming in or out of the clinic; (2) demonstrating in a 25-foot-wide zone from the front door to the curb; (3) “shouting, screaming, chanting, or yelling during on-site demonstrations”; (4) “producing noise by any other means which substantially interferes with the provision of medical services within the Center, including counseling”; (5) trespassing; (6) damaging property; or (7) interfering with the clinic’s utility services. When the demonstrations continued, the court held several individuals in contempt. The organizations and individual advocates appealed, challenging the injunction and contempt citations on the ground that the injunction was impermissibly vague because it did not specify decibel levels that the demonstrators could not exceed. The demonstrators argued that purported vagueness deterred constitutionally protected activities and imposed the clinic workers’ subjective standards on the demonstrators. In addition, the demonstrators challenged the injunction as constitutionally void for vagueness.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hug, J.)
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