3rd Cir. Reinstates Challenge to Buffer Zone Law

A federal appeals court June 1 reinstated a challenge to the constitutionality of a Pittsburgh law that limits protesters’ ability to approach people near a Planned Parenthood clinic entrance (Bruni v. City of Pittsburgh, 2016 BL 175172, 3d Cir., 15-1755, 6/1/16).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said the dismissal of claims challenging ordinances like the one at issue here would “rarely, if ever, be appropriate at the pleading stage.” Instead, the development of a factual record likely would be “indispensable” to assessing whether the law was the least restrictive means of enforcing the ...