CLEVELAND -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has banned broadcast media from an appearance Wednesday where he will receive an award for supporting free speech.

The ban "begs disbelief and seems to be in conflict with the award itself," C-SPAN vice president and executive producer Terry Murphy wrote in a letter last week to the City Club of Cleveland, which is presenting the honor. "How free is speech if there are limits to its distribution?"

Tell Them What You Think! Claire Rosacco, President, Board of Trustees City Club of Cleveland claire.rosacco@tri-c.edu James H. Foster, Executive Director foster@cityclub.org

The City Club, which regularly hosts appearances by public figures, selected Scalia for its Citadel of Free Speech Award because he has "consistently, across the board, had opinions or led the charge in support of free speech," said James Foster, executive director.

The club usually tapes speakers for later broadcast on public television station WVIZ. But Scalia insisted on banning television and radio coverage as a condition of his appearance.

"I might wish it were otherwise, but that was one of the criteria that he had for acceptance," Foster said.

Cameras and recording devices are banned from the Supreme Court chamber, and Scalia prefers not to have camera coverage in other settings, said Kathleen Arberg, spokeswoman for the court.

The City Club has given the award once before, to John Glenn, shortly after the Ohio Democrat retired in 1999 from the U.S. Senate. The club said at the time that Glenn had earned the award by defending free speech and opposing a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning.

A proclamation prepared by the City Club for Wednesday's event applauds Scalia for protecting free speech in several Supreme Court cases, including voting to strike down a Texas flag burning ban.

"Justice Scalia has consistently demonstrated a commitment to the values of free speech where it counts most: protecting the speech of those whose views we disagree with most," the proclamation reads.

Scalia also banned cameras and recording devices at John Carroll University, where he spoke Tuesday night, and no cameras were allowed at his speech the day before in Toledo.

On Tuesday he spoke mostly about the constitutional protection of religions, but also said that government has room to scale back individual rights during wartime without violating the Constitution.

"The Constitution just sets minimums," Scalia said. "Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires."

© 2003 The Associated Press

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