A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled against anti-Bush protesters who said the Secret Service discriminated against them by moving their protest away from the President during a 2004 campaign appearance in Oregon. The protesters contended that they were moved because they were anti-Bush whereas the President’s supporters enjoyed a more central position. But the Court with liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing for the majority found that the move was not based on content but was taken to improve security. (Politico, May 27, 2014, by Josh Gerstein)
Ginsberg swrote there were no court precedents prompting the Secret Service in charge of crowd security to honor the First Amendment by ensuring that groups with disparate views have equal access. (Courthouse News Service, May 27, 2014, by Barbara Leonard)
Eugene Volokh, The Volokh Conspiracy, May 27, 2014 commented that the court felt that safeguarding the President was of supreme importance and that in that context, the viewpoint discrimination was justifiable.
The ACLU expressed disappointment with the decision, “No one disputes that the Secret Service has an overriding interest in protecting the President but that does not include the right to shield the President from criticism, a critical distinction that the Court unanimously reaffirms. In our view, the jury should have been allowed to decide whether this case was actually about security or censorship.” (American Civil Liberties Union, May 27, 2014, press release)