For nearly three years, it has seemed inevitable that the Supreme Court would strike down the “buffer zones” that restrict protests near the entrances of reproductive health clinics. A majority of the court has already castigated these laws—and past precedent upholding them—as a subversion of anti-abortion protesters’ First Amendment rights.

The court decided not to take the case brought against the government by an Air National Guard member who was paralyzed during back surgery at a military hospital.