Opinion

Bering v. Share

  • 106 Wash. 2d 212
  • 721 P.2d 918
Court
Washington Supreme Court
Filed
Jun 19, 1986
Status
Published
Author
Dolliver
On the bench
Pearson, Dolliver, Dore, Andersen, Goodloe
Cited by
226 cases
Authority
More cited than 5.3%

finding that the state 10 “has a compelling interest in avoiding subjection of children to the physical and 11 psychological abuse inflicted by the picketers’” offensive speech

How later courts described this case

  • finding that the state 10 “has a compelling interest in avoiding subjection of children to the physical and 11 psychological abuse inflicted by the picketers’” offensive speech
  • finding that the State had a compelling interest in protecting children from the psychological abuse inflicted by picketers' speech
  • upholding permanent injunction prohibiting anti-abortion protesters from using the words "murder," "kill," and their derivatives because state has "compelling interest in avoiding subjection of children to the physical and psychological abuse inflicted by the picketers' speech"
  • invalidating portion of an injunction that forbade speech harmful to children even if children were not present; “[t]he injunction cannot water down speech to make it suitable for the sandbox”

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

Dolliver, C.J.

(concurring specially) — I concur with all aspects of the majority opinion except that portion discussing the place restriction in the trial court's injunction. The majority has gone farther than necessary to uphold the injunction by resorting to the State's interest in protecting *248 the right of privacy afforded women by the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 , 35 L. Ed. 2d 147 , 93 S. Ct. 705 (1973). I believe the injunction is supported simply by the State's interest in maintaining access to and from a health care facility. See Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 559 , 13 L. Ed. 2d 487 , 85 S. Ct. 476 (1965); Cameron v. Johnson, 390 U.S. 611 , 20 L. Ed. 2d 182 , 88 S. Ct. 1335 (1968); Pickens v. Okolona Mun. Separate Sch. Dist., 594 F.2d 433 (5th Cir. 1979); Concerned Jewish Youth v. McGuire, 621 F.2d 471 (2d Cir. 1980). I would go no further.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.