State high court rules Westlake Center had a right to limit war protesters

In a 7-2 vote on free speech, the state Supreme Court ruled that Westlake Center officials were within their right to ask Iraq war protesters to lower their picket signs walking between the mall and the monorail station.

The court affirmed the King County Superior Court decision that the area is not a public forum and that the mall's request for protesters to lower their signs is "a reasonable regulation on speech," according to the Supreme Court opinion published this morning.

Beth Sanders, who worked for the Government Accountability Project, sued the city of Seattle and Westlake Center after she was told to put her sign down while waiting to board the monorail on the way to a rally at Seattle Center in February 2003. Westlake Center argued that they were concerned about public safety.

Justice Barbara Madsen wrote in the court's opinion that, "While signs had to be lowered in the Center itself, they could be carried aloft on nearby public sidewalks outside of and adjacent to the Center."

Justice Richard Sanders and Tom Chambers wrote dissenting opinions.

Interest in public safety "cannot summarily trump the right to protest and picket, and we cannot let fear of some hypothetical injury justify an abridgement of one's First Amendment rights," Sanders wrote in his dissenting opinion.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2204 or schan@seattletimes.com