The Supreme Court said Thursday it will consider reviving an evangelist’s challenge to a Mississippi city’s protest ordinance.
Gabriel Olivier, a self-described Christian called to evangelize, asked the justices to let his lawsuit challenging an ordinance barring him from demonstrating outside a Brandon, Miss., amphitheater move forward.
The city, in its opposition to Olivier’s petition, said the ordinance was passed after Olivier, with a group, called passersby “whores,” “Jezebels,” “sissies” and other derogatory names over a loudspeaker at the amphitheater’s busiest intersection.
The ordinance redirects protests and demonstrations to a nearby designated area for three hours before an event and one hour after and bans the use of loudspeakers that are “clearly audible” more than 100 feet from the protest area, the city says.
Olivier claimed in his petition to the court that the ordinance “forbids him” from sharing his faith with fellow citizens outside the amphitheater. He filed suit after being charged with and pleading no contest to violating the ordinance, after he left the protest area because it was “too isolated for attendees to hear his message.” He paid a $304 fine.
A federal judge threw out his case, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit affirmed, citing Supreme Court precedent that people convicted of a crime can’t file civil lawsuits against police or other officials. The full appeals court declined to rehear the case by a one-vote margin, over several dissenting opinions.
“It sends an odd message to citizens who care about defending their constitutional rights,” Judge James Ho wrote in one dissent. “On the one hand, we tell citizens that you can’t sue if you’re not injured. But on the other hand, we tell them that you can’t sue if you are injured.”
Olivier asked the justices to clarify whether the high court’s 1994 decision in Heck v. Humphrey bars lawsuits like his. A decision is expected by next summer.
“Every American has First Amendment rights to free speech; and every American has a right to their day in court,” said Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, which is representing Olivier. “Both of these rights were violated for Gabe Olivier. The Supreme Court will now decide whether those rights will be protected for all Americans.”
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