Here’s a nice little piece of irony to get your blood boiling. It concerns buffer zones and the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the Court ruled that women seeking abortions and healthcare in Massachusetts are no longer entitled to the 35 foot buffer zones where they can enter and exit unmolested by right-to-lifers.

The Roberts Court said that the 35 foot buffer zone violates the protestors’ First Amendment rights.

But pro-choice advocates have pointed out that the Supreme Court recognizes the value of buffer zones, because the high court itself enjoys a rather large one-way larger than 35 foot buffer zone in Massachusetts the Justices ruled unconstitutional.

The plaza between the Court’s entrance and the sidewalk is subject to a number of rules banning activity that “is reasonably likely to draw a crowd or onlookers” and saying these rules are necessary “to maintain suitable order and decorum within the Supreme Court building and grounds.”

The plaza is at least five times as big as the 35 foot buffer zone.

Of course, legally speaking, the Supreme Court might not stand up to the test either, but no one has yet litigated it.

Some of the background, according to Vox [3]:

In the 1983 […]