The latest effort to force the U.S. Supreme Court to allow demonstrations on the court’s marble plaza was dismissed by a Washington federal judge on Wednesday.
The challengers in the case, Payden-Travers v. Talkin, claimed the ban on demonstrations at the high court violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by burdening their religious rights to protest capital punishment with candlelight vigils. The plaintiffs, who have protested at the court in the past, claimed their beliefs dictate that they bear witness on court property, not on nearby public sidewalks.
