3d Circuit tosses combined buffer zone law

A federal appeals court has struck down an ordinance that created two types of buffer zones around medical facilities after a Christian legal group challenged the law on behalf of a nurse who protests abortions.

[ ... ] The Pittsburgh law bans protesters from standing within 15 feet of entrances but also makes them stand 8 feet from clients in a 100-foot buffer around entrances.

The court found that either zone by itself could be legal.

In other words, the court ruled that, under current Supreme Court precedent, Pittsburgh can have an ordinance that keeps protesters 15 feet away from clinic entrances (a "buffer zone"), or it can have an ordinance that keeps protesters, who are within 100 feet of a clinic, 8 feet away from clients as they approach the facility (a "bubble zone") -- but it can't have both (83-page PDF).

The news article does not indicate whether the city will seek a re-hearing en banc. I hope against hope that the city does not press its luck on this one. Please-please-please. I really don't want it to reach the Supreme Court any time soon.