The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that an anti-abortion protester’s First Amendment free speech rights were violated when he was barred from coming close to a Planned Parenthood nurse. The court, controlled by liberals in a 4-3 majority, ordered that the injunction against protester Brian Aish be dismissed. A lower court had issued the injunction in 2020 after nurse Nancy Kindschy claimed Aish made threatening comments toward her while protesting outside the clinic. Aish argued that his comments, made from a public sidewalk, were protected under the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court agreed. The court cited a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made it more difficult to convict someone of making a violent threat, saying that Aish did not consciously disregard a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence. The lower court failed to find that Aish had intended his remarks to be threatening. The ruling overturned a four-year injunction against Aish, with the court noting that Kindschy has since retired and the clinic where she worked is now closed. Aish’s attorneys did not comment on the ruling.
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