Court: West Point Can Deny Access To Smelly Anti-War Hippies
The correct ruling, in my estimation:
West Point — A federal appeals court today upheld a decision giving the U.S. Military Academy authority to ban political protesters on Graduation Day.
Goshen civil rights attorney Michael Sussman and the Democratic Alliance of Orange County had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn a federal judge’s decision barring them from campus.
Their request would have required West Point Garrison Commander Col. Brian Crawford to open the gates to roughly 1,000 anti-war demonstrators tomorrow.
But in a decision issued today, the appeals court reaffirmed the Academy’s long-stated position that it is a non-public forum exempt from some forms of free-speech.
The left’s reaction will be “B-b-b-but, free speech!,” but this isn’t a free speech issue.
What people often forget is that while we do have the right to free speech, that right doesn’t necessarily trump other rights enshrined in the Constitution. Such as the right to peacefully assemble, which is exactly what the West Point graduation is. A peaceful assembly of graduates and their families. They have a right to do that, and they have a right to not have it disturbed by a bunch of whining, self-important Cindy Sheehan wannabes.
