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Stories Posted on June 8, 2008
Nebraska Attorney General Says Property Owners Can Bar Petition Circulators
Category: Petition Circulating · State: Nebraska · Source: Omaha World-Herald
Private property owners, including the owners of shopping malls and free-standing stores, have a legal right to bar petition circulators and their opponents from their property, Attorney General Jon Bruning said Friday. Bruning's office issued a legal opinion about the issue in response to a request by Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood of Norfolk. "The law is clear," Bruning said. "Private property owners have a right to restrict who comes on their property." Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Nebraska Constitution overrides that right, according to the opinion. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects free speech and free assembly from interference by the government, but not interference from owners of private property, the opinion says. The same goes for articles in the Nebraska Constitution that protect free elections and petition rights.