Burson v. Freeman: Where the Right to Vote Intersects with the Freedom to Speak Note and Comment 15 Whittier Law Review 1994

15 Whittier L. Rev. 869 (1994)
Burson v. Freeman: Where the Right to Vote Intersects with the Freedom to Speak

handle is hein.journals/whitlr15 and id is 879 raw text is: BURSON v. FREEMAN WHERE THE RIGHT TO VOTE
INTERSECTS WITH THE FREEDOM TO SPEAK
I. INTRODUCTION
The plurality opinion in Burson v. Freeman' continues a recent
trend toward the erosion of constitutional rights. In 1992, among
others, the Court decided Burson v. Freeman,2 International Society
For Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee,3 and Planned Parenthood v.
Casey. 4
In Casey, the Court modified its previous decision in Roe v. Wade
which had held that abortion was a fundamental right.5 The Court
upheld a Pennsylvania statute that put burdensome restrictions on a
woman's right to have an abortion.6 By upholding these restrictions,
the Court effectively implied that abortion no longer qualifies as a fun-
damental right and therefore is not entitled to the protection commen-
surate with fundamental right status.7
In Krishna, the Court upheld a statute proscribing solicitation of
money inside the airport terminals at three New York and New Jersey
airports.' The Court, relying on its decisions in Lehman v. City of
Shaker Heights9 and Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators'
Ass'n,'° held that it cannot be fairly said that an airport terminal has
as a principal purpose 'promoting the free exchange of ideas.' I In
1. 112 S. Ct. 1846 (1992).
2. Id.
3. 112 S. Ct. 2701 (1992).
4. 112 S. Ct. 2791 (1992).
5. Id. at 2800 (citing Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113, 154-56 (1973) (holding that a woman has
a Fourteenth Amendment fundamental privacy right to an abortion and, therefore, the state
cannot completely proscribe abortions and has only a limited power to regulate them)).
6. Casey, 112 S. Ct. at 2791 (1992).
7. Id. at 2800.
8. Krishna, 112 S. Ct. at 2703. The plaintiff in Krishna was a non-profit organization
whose members perform a ritual called sankiritan, which involves the solicitation of contribu-
tions while distributing religious literature. Id.
9. 418 U.S. 298 (1974) (upholding the right to accept commercial advertising on city buses
while rejecting political advertising).
10. 460 U.S. 37 (1983) (holding that preferential access to government-owned property does
not automatically violate the First Amendment because government property is not considered a
public forum merely because it is owned by the government).
11. Krishna, 112 S. Ct. at 2705.

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