With the anomaly of a particular few states, the rights of private property have overridden the first amendment rights of people within shopping centers. The original purpose of these “civic centers” was to perfect the downtown environment. If one is to go these downtown centers, the right to publicly protest and exert ones right to free speech is legally available. The same regrettably cannot be said for most suburban civic centers. As Cohen articulates, ”An unintended consequence of the American shift in orientation from public town center to private shopping center, then, has been the narrowing of the ground where constitutionally protected free speech and free assembly can legally take place,” (Cohen, 277). This statement clearly corroborates the view that what was once meant to be a market square in history, a modern day civic center for communities throughout the country, has been replaced with a pure hub of
With the anomaly of a particular few states, the rights of private property have overridden the first amendment rights of people within shopping centers. The original purpose of these “civic centers” was to perfect the downtown environment. If one is to go these downtown centers, the right to publicly protest and exert ones right to free speech is legally available. The same regrettably cannot be said for most suburban civic centers. As Cohen articulates, ”An unintended consequence of the American shift in orientation from public town center to private shopping center, then, has been the narrowing of the ground where constitutionally protected free speech and free assembly can legally take place,” (Cohen, 277). This statement clearly corroborates the view that what was once meant to be a market square in history, a modern day civic center for communities throughout the country, has been replaced with a pure hub of