Shut your mouth at the mall

So, if you want to protest the war at Metro Square in Middletown, where military recruitment offices are located, you will discover that, according to the Connecticut Supreme Court, you do not have free speech rights on private property.

While the US Supreme Court has allowed that states do have the right to extend freedom of expression rights in malls and shopping centers, few states have done so.

In New York last year, a court ruled that a protestor was within his rights to protest at a mall because military recruitment offices were housed there:

A trial court in New York recently ruled on a case with similar elements. In November 2006, state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Bradley ruled in Kings Mall v. Wenk that “a protester has no right to freedom of expression in a privately owned mall.” However, “the presence of a government tenant (a military recruitment center) at the mall renders the property … something which is more akin to a public forum.” The judge also ruled that “the introduction of a governmental element to the equation should not render the entire mall space … a staging area for protests.” His solution was to allow the protests to be conducted immediately outside the enclosed area of the mall where the recruitment offices were located.

But no such case has been tested in Connecticut.

So if you want to haul your protest signs to Blue Black Square, or the Shoppes at Farmington Valley, or Buckland Hills, you should be prepared to be arrested for trespassing.