Judge rejects tea party restraining order #p2

from http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101101/NEWS010702/11020328/Judge-rejects-tea-party-restraining-order

A Liberty Township tea party activist lost her court fight last week against a union hall that she claims barred her from talking to people as they entered the hall to vote in the May primary.

But Katherine Dirr's attorney said she will return Tuesday for the general election when voters arrive to cast ballots at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall in Butler County.

Dirr claimed in a federal lawsuit last month that union officials barred her from protesting health-care reform outside the union hall because they disagreed with her political views.

Union officials said they asked her to leave because the table she had set up, with a sign that read "Stop Obama Care," was interfering with access to the hall and several voters complained. They said they would not object if she returned Tuesday and followed the rules.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett refused last week to grant a temporary restraining order that would have declared the union violated Dirr's First Amendment rights. The judge said he would need more evidence before making such a determination.

But the judge did say polling places on private property, such as the union hall, should be viewed as "limited public forums" that are open to political speech regardless of the viewpoints of the private property owner.

The case raised questions about whether polling places on private property are different than those on public property, and whether private property owners could dictate who is or is not permitted to hand out fliers, seek signatures on petitions or put up signs on Election Day.

Barrett's ruling comes down on the side of treating both locations the same, but he said he could not decide based on the evidence presented so far whether Dirr had been asked to leave because of her political views.

A lawyer for the Butler County Board of Elections said the board controls only the polling place itself and the area 100 feet around it - an area where political activity is forbidden under Ohio law. Outside the 100-foot line, however, activists routinely set up signs and hand out brochures to voters.

Dirr's lawyer, Chris Finney, said his client followed the rules in May and would be outside the union hall again Tuesday with her sign and her petitions seeking to repeal health care reform.

"We will be there loud and proud," he said.