Can you be trespassed from a public building?
Yes - “public” means publicly owned, not unconditionally open. Buildings have hours, rules, and managers with authority to exclude. But the power has constitutional limits, and exclusions that punish speech or skip process get struck.
The exclusion power.
Government buildings operate under rules like any premises: libraries bar harassment of patrons, courthouses require screening, city halls close at five. A person who violates the rules can be told to leave by someone with authority - and refusing to leave after a lawful order is criminal trespass in every state (New York’s PL 140 ladder, California’s PC 602 catalog). Many agencies formalize it: the written “trespass admonishment” or ban letter, covering a facility for months or years, converts the next entry into a completed offense at the threshold. Courts uphold the practice generally - buildings are nonpublic or limited public forums, and reasonable, viewpoint-neutral rules govern them.
The limits that actually bite.
Three constraints do real work. Viewpoint neutrality: a ban issued because of what you said - the critic ejected from the council meeting, the journalist barred after unflattering coverage - violates the First Amendment, and § 1983 suits over retaliatory trespass bans succeed. Due process: indefinite bans from significant public facilities without any notice, standards, or appeal path draw procedural challenges, and some courts require at least an informal review mechanism. And scope: exclusion from the DMV lobby is one thing; a ban that functionally blocks court access, voting, or benefits offices presses on rights the government cannot casually condition. The power is real; blank checks are not.
If the refusal became a charge.
Criminal trespass from a public building prosecutes on three elements the defense tests: authority (was the person who ordered you out actually empowered to), lawfulness (was the order itself lawful - retaliatory and discriminatory orders are not), and notice (were you actually informed, in a way the statute requires). Video exists in every government building; it gets pulled in week one. These charges are misdemeanors that plead down readily - but where the ban was retaliation for speech or complaint, the defense is the offense: dismissal plus the civil claim. Bring the ban letter - its wording usually decides which lane the case belongs in.
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