The Philadelphia Inquirer's John Grogan writes a column about the young women who were ejected from a Rick Santorum book signing last year and have now filed suit claiming that their constitutional rights were violated.  Here's how Grogan sums up the larger issue that this incident illustrates:

All right, you might be thinking, this was an event on private
property and Santorum was appearing less as a U.S. senator than as an
author - on hand to promote his book, It Takes a Family. You might be saying, "Who cares if they kicked the troublemakers out? Why should they be allowed to make the senator squirm?"

The only thing is, they weren't troublemakers. They were not rowdy
or disrespectful. They just wanted to ask the senator some pointed
questions.

That's what we do here in America. We challenge and debate; we
question authority; we speak our minds. At least when bully cops aren't
sweeping us out of the room.

And that is what's troubling about this incident. It's part of a
bigger pattern of politicians, or their agents, weeding crowds of any
but the most enthusiastic cheerleaders.