Today's decision of the Alabama Supreme Court in Young Americans for Liberty v. St. John holds that a University of Alabama "free speech zone" policy violates the Alabama Campus Free Speech Act, which generally requires state universities to implement policies (and which is based in some measure on the Goldwater Institute campus free speech proposal):
That the outdoor areas of a campus of a public institution of higher education shall be deemed to be a forum for members of the campus community, and the institution shall not create free speech zones or other designated outdoor areas of the campus in order to limit or prohibit protected expressive activities….
That the public institution of higher education may maintain and enforce constitutional time, place, and manner restrictions for outdoor areas of campus only when they are narrowly tailored to serve a significant institutional interest and when the restrictions employ clear, published, content-neutral, and viewpoint-neutral criteria, and provide for ample alternative means of expression. All restrictions shall allow for members of the university community to spontaneously and contemporaneously assemble and distribute literature….
The majority, in an opinion by Justice Bryan (joined by Justices Bolin, Wise, and Mendheim), concluded:
