Court rules against abortion protester

An antiabortion protester who was arrested for refusing to move to another spot on Independence Mall in 2007 can't collect damages from two park rangers who detained him, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Thursday.

The three-judge panel upheld a 2011 lower-court ruling to dismiss a lawsuit Michael Marcavage brought against Independence National Historic Park rangers Alan Saperstein and Ian Crane.

The lawsuit stemmed from an October 2007 protest on the sidewalk of 6th Street near the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center at Chestnut.

Saperstein and Crane arrested Marcavage after he refused to move to another area of the park. A federal magistrate subsequently convicted him of two misdemeanors - violating a permit and interfering with an agency.

Marcavage, 32, of Lansdowne, appealed, alleging rangers violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights. In 2010, a federal appeals court here threw out the convictions.

After that appeal was decided, Marcavage filed an amended complaint alleging the "false" arrest violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights and thus park rangers were liable for unspecified damages.

U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III ruled last year the rangers were immune from damages because Marcavage's First Amendment rights were not clearly established at the time of his arrest and he could not show that rangers acted without probable cause.