Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc.

1981-06-22

Headline: State fair booth rule upheld, allowing Minnesota to require religious groups to sell and solicit only from rented booths while still permitting face-to-face talking and roaming proselytizing.

Holding: The Court ruled that a state's booth-only rule for sales, distribution, and fund solicitation at a crowded state fair is a permissible time, place, and manner restriction and may be enforced against a religious group.

Real World Impact:

Allows fair managers to require booths for sales and fundraising
Forces religious groups to use rented booths to sell literature and collect donations
Keeps oral proselytizing and face-to-face conversation allowed across the fairgrounds

Topics: religious freedom, free speech limits, public festivals, fundraising rules

Summary

Background

A Krishna religious group (ISKCON) challenged a Minnesota State Fair rule that forbids selling, distributing printed materials, or soliciting donations anywhere on the fairgrounds except from rented, fixed booths. The fair is a 12-day public event on 125 acres with roughly 1.3 million visitors over the season and over 1,400 paid exhibitors. Lower courts split: a trial court upheld the rule, the Minnesota Supreme Court struck it down as applied to ISKCON, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the conflict.

Reasoning

The U.S. Supreme Court held the booth-only rule is a content-neutral time, place, and manner restriction that serves a substantial government interest in keeping crowds moving and preventing congestion at a crowded, limited-area fair. The rule applies equally to commercial, charitable, political, and religious groups, uses a first-come, first-served booth allocation, and leaves open alternative channels: groups may speak and mingle with fairgoers and may use booths located within the main fair area. The Court rejected the lower court’s focus on how much disruption ISKCON alone would cause and concluded an exemption could not be limited to that one group.

Real world impact

Religious groups who want to sell literature or accept donations at the Minnesota State Fair must use a rented booth or similar licensed location; they may still circulate and speak orally in public areas. The decision treats the fair as a limited public forum shaped by its purpose of displaying exhibits efficiently and protecting safety and convenience. The case was reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this ruling.

Dissents or concurrances

Justices Brennan and Blackmun agreed the rule can cover sales and solicitation but would have struck down the blanket ban on literature distribution outside booths, arguing distribution is less disruptive and the State failed to adopt narrower measures to protect free expression.