John Whitehead, an attorney and founder of The Rutherford Institute, told The National Law Journal that he was not surprised the justice declined to hear the case, but said that it “sends a chilling message when you have a court saying you don’t have free speech on that huge plaza out there.”

“The law is overbroad,” Whitehead said. “Harold Hodge wasn’t disrupting. He got arrested for displaying a message on the plaza, silently.”