First Amendment Does Not Require State Park To Display Asbestos Warning Pamphlet
ILLINOIS DUNESLAND PRESERVATION SOCIETY v. ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (October 14, 2009)
Illinois Beach State Park is located in northeastern Illinois on the shores of Lake Michigan. Various buildings in the park have display racks containing pamphlets on various topics. The Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society is a nonprofit corporation that supports the park. The Society created a pamphlet warning of the risk of asbestos at the park's beaches. When the park refused to display the pamphlet, the Society brought suit under § 1983 against the state officials involved in operating the park. The district court granted summary judgment to the officials. The Society appeals.
In their opinion, Chief Judge Easterbrook and Judges Posner and Wood affirmed. The Court first recited some of the "forum analysis" of Supreme Court decisions but then questioned the value of that analysis to the question. Every public site, stated the Court, can be regulated to some extent depending on the circumstances and as long as the regulation is not used to stifle speech. Here, the materials displayed in the park's racks are meant to promote the park and state tourist facilities generally. The dire warning contained in the Society's pamphlet is hardly consistent with that purpose. The Court concluded that the park was not required to display, and thus tacitly endorse, the pamphlet containing the warnings. The Court added that there were other means, such as personal distribution, available to the Society to convey its message. The park's position was not an unreasonable barrier to speech.
