Court Supports Krishnas on Stadium Solicitations

A federal appeals court upheld the right of Hare Krishna members to solicit donations around Anaheim Stadium, ruling Tuesday that Anaheim’s law requiring a permit for soliciting donations is unconstitutional.

In a ruling in favor of the Laguna Beach-based International Society of Krishna Consciousness, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals relied on free-speech protections in the California Constitution, which are broader than similar provisions in the U.S. Constitution.

The court said Anaheim could not ban solicitation merely because stadium spectators might be annoyed and could not give city officials unlimited authority to decide whether to issue a permit.

“I am dismayed,” Anaheim Mayor Don Roth said. “And it’s certainly not going to please the Angels’ fans.” Roth declined to comment further until he reads the opinion and confers with city attorneys.

But Hare Krishna attorney Larry J. Roberts said Tuesday he was “thrilled” about the decision. “It’s a blow for freedom,” he said.

In 1982, Hare Krishna members challenged the City of Anaheim’s denial of a permit to solicit donations in the city. Under an informal agreement, the city let the group solicit at the Anaheim Convention Center under very restricted conditions, but it refused to allow any activity by sect members at the city-owned stadium.

U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real ruled in 1983 that the convention center was a public place and thus a place at which the Krishnas have a constitutional right to proselytize with no restrictions. He ruled that the stadium, however, was not a “public forum” because people go there for a specific purpose, in contrast with the convention center, which he said drew people for a variety of reasons.

But on Tuesday, U.S. Circuit Judge William Norris said in his opinion that for the purposes of the California Constitution’s Liberty of Speech Clause, “public forums” are not restricted to traditionally public areas such as streets, sidewalks and parks.

Because the parking facilities and walkways of the stadium were constructed for the free flow of traffic, “such locations must be open to expressive activity unless the activity is basically incompatible with the intended use of the facility,” the opinion said. “We conclude that solicitation by ISKCON is not incompatible with the intended uses of either the exterior areas of the stadium or the exterior walkways of the convention center.”

Roberts, the Krishnas’ attorney, cautioned that the ruling involved an Anaheim ordinance that is no longer in effect. Last November, Roberts said, the Anaheim council replaced the stricken ruling with a new, “more sophisticated” ordinance that does not give officials as much discretion as before in deciding when to issue permits.

“But we don’t see how the new ordinance is any different from the old one, in that the issue we won today is the same,” he said. “The court said barring solicitations because they may annoy people is unconstitutional.”

Anaheim Deputy City Atty. Charles Redd would not comment on the court’s ruling or say whether Anaheim will appeal the decision until he has read the 25-page opinion.

Times staff writer Roxane Kopetman contributed to this article.