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<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; A federal appeals court issued a mixed ruling in a free speech case involving protests at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza and sent back the case to a trial judge for further action.</p><p>A three-member panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined the location restriction on protesters was constitutional, but bans on profanity and voice amplification were unreasonable.</p><p>The parties that filed the suit in 2016 against the Luzerne County Convention Center Authority, the owner of the arena, and its then management company SMG, unsuccessfully asked for a rehearing on the Sept. 23 decision and the case was remanded Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani in Scranton.</p><p>The case involved animal rights activist Silvie Pomicter and the nonprofit group Last Chance for Animals and their challenge of the restrictions imposed on them for their protest of the former Ringling Bros. and Barnum &amp; Bailey Circus shows at the arena. The judge enjoined the LCCCA and SMG from enforcing the restrictions, prompting their appeal last year.</p><p>The court said the primary issue to be resolved was whether the governing authority&#8217;s policy &#8220;sequestering all protest activity to enclosures&#8221; by each of the two entrances to the area was constitutional under the First Amendment.</p><p>In overturning the judge&#8217;s order, the court said the concourse area around the arena where the protesters wanted access was a &#8220;nonpublic forum&#8221; that the governing authority &#8220;may reasonably reserve for its intended purpose.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;As the concourses&#8217;s function is to facilitate movement of pedestrians into and out of the Arena, we cannot find unreasonable a policy designed to minimize interference with that flow,&#8221; the court said.</p><p>As for the ban on profanity, the court affirmed the judge&#8217;s ruling against it. The policy was enacted so that patrons of the arena were not subjected to profane or vulgar language, but, the court noted, it applied only to protesters and not to anyone else on the concourse.</p><p>&#8220;Though the Defendants&#8217; goal may be legitimate, their means of achieving it is not. They cannot meet their goal by singling out protesters on the concourse,&#8221; the court said.</p><p>The ban on amplification also fell flat with the court. &#8220;Though amplification may be annoying, absent any connection to the purpose of the forum, this alone is insufficient to justify the speech restriction,&#8221; the court said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.  Times Leader file photo</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_Arena.cmyk_.jpg</photo0><caption0>The Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.  Times Leader file photo</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

After mixed ruling by appellate court, free speech case against Arena sent back to federal judge