Government Property, Keep Out!

BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES, the owners of Zuccotti Park, never imposed rules restricting the use of their space until Occupy Wall Street arrived. Only then did Brookfield prohibit (among other activities) “camping and/or the erection of tents or other structures,” “lying down on the ground, or lying down on benches,” and “placement of tarps or sleeping bags or any other covering on the property.” Standing before Justice Michael Stallman of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, OWS’s lawyers argued that Brookfield’s post-facto rules and the city’s enforcement of them—which entailed evicting their clients—were clearly intended to suppress First Amendment rights of speech and assembly. Justice Stallman disagreed. While repeatedly noting the belated nature of Brookfield’s rules, Stallman found those rules—and their enforcement by the police in the name of public safety—to be “reasonable,” and therefore compatible with the First Amendment.