Legal reference for the "Guy Arrested in Mall with Peace T-Shirt".. looks like the US Supreme Court is on his side. Basic summary is they rule that shopping centers are public forums and that people have a right to petition people politically within them. Wow, whoda thunk it.

quoted:
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We postponed jurisdiction of this appeal from the Supreme Court of California to decide the important federal constitutional questions it presented. Those are whether state constitutional provisions, which permit individuals to exercise free speech and petition rights on the property of a privately owned shopping center to which the public is invited, violate the shopping center owner's property rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments or his free speech rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Appellant PruneYard is a privately owned shopping center in the city of Campbell, Cal. It covers approximately 21 acres -- 5 devoted to parking and 16 occupied by walkways, plazas, sidewalks, and buildings that contain more than 65 specialty shops, 10 restaurants, and a movie theater. The PruneYard is open to the public for the purpose of encouraging the patronizing of its commercial establishments. It has a policy not to permit any visitor or tenant to engage in any publicly expressive activity, including the circulation of petitions, that is not directly related to its commercial purposes. This policy has been strictly enforced in a nondiscriminatory fashion. The PruneYard is owned by appellant Fred Sahadi.

Appellees are high school students who sought to solicit support for their opposition to a United Nations resolution against "Zionism." On a Saturday afternoon they set up a card table in a corner of PruneYard's central courtyard. They distributed pamphlets and asked passersby to sign petitions, which were to be sent to the President and Members of Congress. Their activity was peaceful and orderly and so far as the record indicates was not objected to by PruneYard's patrons.

] Legal reference for the "Guy Arrested in Mall with Peace
] T-Shirt".. looks like the US Supreme Court is on his side.
] Basic summary is they rule that shopping centers are public
] forums and that people have a right to petition people
] politically within them. Wow, whoda thunk it.

And a quick check at some of the major link tracking sites confirms this story is all over the place.

Leads to a number of funny jokes, doesn't it?

"Look Sir, you don't understand.. We are the peace officers.. We keep the peace here. Not you. Us. Peace. Us. Get it? Take off your shirt or we are taking you downtown.."

Or maybe..

"This is not a peace mall.. No peace in this mall. No peace. You hear me? .... I don't want to hear your hippy crap.. No chance. No peace.. No shirt. ... That's it! Your going to the station."

Hrm.. I'm sure the talk show folks will have a blast with this.