Court seeks Krishna-LAX lawsuit help

A federal appeals court has asked the California Supreme Court to help decide if the Hare Krishna religious group can seek donations at the Los Angeles International Airport.

[Miguel]

The airport should be considered a "security zone" allowing only persons with valid business, i.e. work, travel, escorting travelers, ect.
No Krishna's, none of the scam-artists who stand outside the LAX International terminal soliciting donations to "help children".
There's simply too much going on there without the added diversion of every tom dick and harry to keep tabs on.
Before making any decisions, all one has to do is spend a couple hours at the Tom Bradley terminal and see for themselves.

[Roger]

I don't see why the Hare Krisnas even bother trying to solicit at LAX. Very few people take them seriously.

[Cynic]

It's already a madhouse trying to get through there -- keep out the Krishnas, phoney priests, women in fake nurse's uniforms and nun's habits, LaRouchites, deaf guys with the little trinkets, etc.

If an ordinary person can't enter the terminal to meet a friend or family member at the gate, why should these aggressive professional beggars be allowed on the property?

Let 'em stand on the freeway ramps, just like our hard-working carnaleos with the bags of oranges and slightly wilted roses!

[LJ Gibbs]

The 9th Circuit's way of dancing around the issue so they don't have to make a decision.

[Kity]

It's a unique take on the balance between national security and freedom of speech. The courts have to decide between two compelling interests.

And the decision either way could provide that slippery slope we're always hearing about down which we are bound to travel once that initial erosion of our personal liberties (and corresponding responsibilities) is officially sanctioned.

[Scott]

Everything changed on 09/11/2001. The airport is no longer a public place. Relatives/friends can no longer enter and go to the gate with people. Keeping these solicitors out is being done for safety reasons.

Having said that, I have no doubt that the ninth circuit court of appeals will make the wrong decision, yet again (they are the MOST overturned court of appeals in the U.S.) and open this up to solicitors thereby jeopardizing everyones safety.

[Keith Fitzgerald]

Scott wrote:

Everything changed on 09/11/2001. The airport is no longer a public place. Relatives/friends can no longer enter and go to the gate with people. Keeping these solicitors out is being done for safety reasons.
Having said that, I have no doubt that the ninth circuit court of appeals will make the wrong decision, yet again (they are the MOST overturned court of appeals in the U.S.) and open this up to solicitors thereby jeopardizing everyones safety.

Actually Scott, the 9th Circuit is not the most overturned Court of Appeals in the U.S.; it was for a couple of years in the 90's, but no longer (you can't take political propaganga at face value). Regardless, the issue before the court is which of several categories of public forum the airport falls into, and whether regulating time, place and manner is a legitimate manner of serving the city's compelling interest in managing the security of the airport. Since the issue at heart is the California (not federal) constitutional provisions for freedom of expression, the court is rightly seeking the state's interpretation.

[Robert J G Jackson Sr]

Do what San Francisco did, and create a booth for organizations like the Krishnas, and insist that they pay for the booth, and put it slightly away from the bulk of public traffic, against a wall or a street front window/wall. While confined to the booth, they really have no opportunity to accost people, which is the real problem. Seeking donations is one thing, chasing people down and forcing books or a flower into their hands then dmeanding money is quite another.

[Cynic]

back in the day, I witnessed the Krishnas putting the squeeze on a foreign visitor at LAX, someone who was not familiar with the US and/or did not speak English. It certainly was not a very pleasant way to be "welcomed" to the United States!

[LJ Gibbs]

Scott, I suggest you do what I do and actually read the decisions of the SCOTUS. You'll see they are the most overturned court of appeals.

The 9th Circus Court seems to want to make up the rules as they go along and continually make decisions that are in direct contradiction to the SCOTUS.