by Gregory K. Scott

About the author: Gregory K. Scott is a Colorado Supreme Court justice.

Editor's Note: The following viewpoint is an excerpt from a Colorado Supreme Court decision, Hill v. Thomas, given on February 16, 1999.

In this case we must decide whether a legislative enactment designed to protect the privacy rights of citizens entering and leaving Colorado health care facilities unduly burdens the First Amendment rights of other citizens. We conclude that it does not. . . .

While the protections afforded by the First Amendment are broad, they are also not limitless. "The First Amendment does not guarantee the right to communicate one's views at all times and places or in any manner that may be desired." Heffron v. ISKCON, 452 U.S. 640, 647 (1981). For example, if restriction of speech is facilitated by a content-neutral statute, "[e]xpression, whether oral or written or...