The State - News from Dec. 21, 1986

Government restrictions on anti-nuclear demonstrations at the Nevada Test Site, the location of frequent protests since the Soviet testing moratorium of last year, were upheld by a federal appeals court in San Francisco. Department of Energy rules require demonstrators to apply for a permit 30 days in advance, submit all leaflets for approval and confine themselves to a designated area a mile from the test site in Mercury, Nev., 65 miles north of Las Vegas. The rules also ban demonstrators younger than 18 and allows the department to limit the size and duration of demonstrations. The restrictions are “neutral with respect to viewpoint” and are “reasonable regulations to address . . . safety and security concerns,” said a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. “The First Amendment does not guarantee an optimal setting for speech at all times and places,” said the opinion by Judge Joseph Sneed.