You can occupy some places some of the time, but you can’t occupy all the places all of the time. That’s what a judge said in a tentative ruling rejecting Occupy Santa Barbara protestors’ request for an injunction against the city for confiscating property and issuing citations for camping and remaining in a park after 10 p.m.
In her ruling, Superior Court Judge Colleen Sterne quoted the precedent of Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence in which the Supreme Court ruled, “Expression, whether oral or written or symbolized by conduct, is subject to reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions.” She added that the city’s restrictions on remaining in De la Guerra Plaza after 10 p.m. are content-neutral, meaning that they neither support nor contest Occupy’s message.