Protesters Lose

The U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals on Friday overturned a 1987 decision stating that protesters’ First Amendment rights were violated when the operators of a Hillcrest women’s health clinic subjected them to citizen’s arrests. Reversing that verdict, a three-judge appeals panel ruled that significant federal legal questions were not at issue in the case, thereby setting aside a decision by U.S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam that led to five anti-abortion protesters being awarded $59,000 in damages. The attorney for the Hillcrest clinic predicted that the 9th District’s ruling--which returned the case to Gilliam’s court--will end the trial.