Appeals Court Rules US Capitol Isn’t “Public Forum”

Politico reports:

When John Nassif surged into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he was among the hundreds chanting “Whose house? Our house!” But that’s not exactly true, a federal appeals court countered Tuesday, rejecting Nassif’s challenge to his conviction for “demonstrating” inside the Capitol and ruling that the building itself — as opposed to the spacious parkland outside — is not legally a “public forum” for protest activity.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a statute that criminalizes “parading, picketing or demonstrating in a Capitol building,” a law that has been used against hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants who breached the building that day. “The record before us contains no evidence that Congress intended to open any portion of the Capitol buildings as a public forum for assembly and discourse,” the panel wrote in a unanimous 27-page ruling.

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JUST IN: The federal appeals court in D.C. rejected a Jan. 6 defendant’s challenge to his “demonstrating in a Capitol building” conviction, ruling that the building — as opposed to the exterior grounds — is NOT, by law, a public forum.https://t.co/b4UGBqnphd pic.twitter.com/kljZ8AQ06j

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 9, 2024