The Supreme Court turned away two appeals asking the justices to overrule a 25-year-old decision that allowed for buffer zones around abortion clinics.

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.

Abortion opponents wanted the Supreme Court to scrap protest restrictions around clinics. Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have taken the case.