Krishnas Can Solicit at Stadium, Court Rules

Upholding the right of Hare Krishna members to ask for donations outside Anaheim Stadium, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Anaheim’s law requiring a permit for soliciting donations is unconstitutional.

Relying on free-speech protections in the California Constitution, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Anaheim could not ban solicitation merely because stadium spectators might be annoyed, and that city officials could not be given unlimited authority to decide whether to issue a permit.

The court also ruled that the parking lot and stadium walkways “must be open to expressive activity,” such as soliciting donations, “unless the activity is basically incompatible with the intended use of the facility.”

The permit ordinance on which the court ruled was repealed last year and replaced by a less-restrictive measure. But the court said the new ordinance has some of the same defects, including a failure to require a judicial hearing before a solicitation permit is denied.

The city violated free-speech rights by giving its officials “unguided discretion” to refuse permits and by regulating “only those speakers whose message includes an appeal for funds,” said the opinion by Judge William Norris.

Members of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness of Laguna Beach, or ISKCON, challenged Anaheim’s denial of a permit in 1982 to solicit donations in the city.

Under an informal agreement, the city let the group solicit at the Anaheim Convention Center, but it refused to allow soliciting at the city-owned stadium, home of the baseball Angels and football Rams.

Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel Real had previously ruled that the city had to allow soliciting at the convention center but not in the parking lots or stadium walkways because it was not a “public forum,” like a sidewalk or a city theater.

But the appeals court said that under the California Constitution, which protects free speech more broadly than the U.S. Constitution, areas used by the public for parking and pedestrian traffic must be open to free expression unless it conflicts with normal uses.

Norris said soliciting by ISKCON members is not incompatible with normal use of the areas outside the stadium or the convention center, even if some patrons may be offended. Where free speech is at stake, he said, “a mere annoyance does not establish incompatibility.”

He also said the city, which claimed problems of fraud and misconduct by solicitors, could put specific restrictions on ISKCON’s activities and take security measures.