The nation’s highest court today struck down a Massachusetts law that created buffer zones around abortion clinics.
The US Supreme Court ruled that the state law violated the First Amendment, restricting access to public ways and sidewalks, places that are traditionally open for free debate. The government’s ability to regulate speech in such areas is limited, the justice said in a unanimous decision.
“The buffer zones burden substantially more speech than necessary to achieve the Commonwealth’s asserted interests,” the court said.
