In Wood v. Moss, published May 27, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit decision allowing protesters to pursue a Bivens action against Secret Service agents who allegedly violated the protesters' 1st Amendment rights. The protesters and supporters had obtained permission to assemble along the route of the president as he traveled to a cottage in Oregon where he would spend the night. The president made a last-minute decision to dine on an inn's open-air patio. The protesters moved to within sight of the patio, while the supporters remained along the route, separated from the patio by a two-story building. The protesters were within weapons' range of the patio. The Secret Service had local police move the protesters farther away. As a result, the protesters were not within sight of the president when he moved on in the motorcade, while the supporters were within his sight. The protesters alleged that the Secret Service committed viewpoint discrimination.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the agents were entitled to qualified immunity. In light of the overwhelming importance in protecting the President, the officers were entitled to immunity unless it should have been clear to them that the security perimeter they established violated the 1st Amendment. No decision would have alerted the agents that they had a 1st Amendment obligation to ensure that groups with different viewpoints were at comparable locations at all times. So long as there was a security rationale for the agents' actions, they were entitled to qualified immunity. Since there was a security rationale for moving the protestors out of weapons' range, while the supporters were already out of range, the agents were entitled to immunity.
Comments