The D.C. Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a public charter school against three pro-life activists who campaigned to stop a Planned Parenthood clinic from opening next door.
The ruling issued Thursday stated that Two Rivers Public Charter School lacked constitutional standing to accuse the activists of “private nuisance and conspiracy to create a private nuisance” on behalf of students and parents who allegedly complained about the protests causing “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Associate Judge Stephen H. Glickman, joined by Senior Judges Eric T. Washington and John R. Fisher, unanimously rejected the school’s claim that it had third-party standing to sue out of concern for the families’ finances and privacy.
“We do not see any reason financial considerations are a sufficient hindrance for Two Rivers to assert third-party standing,” Judge Washington wrote in the opinion. “We also do not see any privacy concerns proving enough of a hindrance to warrant third-party standing.”
Two Rivers and D.C. Public Schools did not respond on Friday to a request for comment. But the court’s ruling noted that the school did not challenge the ruling, which overturned an earlier trial court decision.
Two Rivers and its board of trustees filed the lawsuit in December 2015, alleging harassment and intimidation of students.
D.C. Superior court ruled in the school’s favor at the trial in 2020, granting its request to ban the activists from staging further abortion protests near the school.
The complaint alleged that activists Ruby Nicdao, Larry Cirignano and Jonathan Darnel had harassed students and school personnel with messages and streetside proclamations about the new clinic performing abortions.
Attorneys from the Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based conservative public interest law firm, defended Ms. Nicdao’s First Amendment rights in the appeal.
Stephen Crampton, senior counsel for Thomas More Society and lead attorney in the case, called Thursday’s ruling a “tremendous victory.”