ACLJ Files Suit Against University of New Orleans for Prohibiting Distribution of Religious Literature

(New Orleans, LA) - The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed suit in federal court in New Orleans, Louisiana on behalf of a missionary who was prohibited from distributing religious material on the campus of the University of New Orleans because school officials said the material may be offensive.

"The policy in place at the university promotes censorship and violates the First Amendment rights of our client," said Stuart J. Roth, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ, which filed the suit on behalf of the missionary. "The university campus is supposed to be an open and accommodating environment to a wide variety of political and religious views. But it is clear that if you want to share a message with the student body at the University of New Orleans, you have to participate in a screening process that is not only unfair but unconstitutional as well. It is our hope that the court acts to protect the constitutional rights of our client and concludes that the university policy is legally flawed and unconstitutional."

The ACLJ today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on behalf of Michelle Beadle, a Messianic Jew who works as a missionary for CJF Ministries, a non-profit organization that shares the Good News of Jesus the Messiah with Jewish people.

The suit contends that Beadle had contacted officials at the University of New Orleans (UNO) in October 2002 to get permission to distribute a religious tract entitled: "You Can Say Anything . . . Almost!" that included examples of how in today's environment you can get away with saying almost anything - no matter how outrageous. The tract concludes that there is still one thing that you cannot say without triggering an angry response, and that is the statement: "Jews should believe in Jesus." The suit contends UNO denied Beadle permission to distribute the tract because it contained the statement, "Jews should believe in Jesus," which the university said "could be offensive to some people."

The lawsuit contends that the UNO policy is flawed because it requires material to be presented in advance to a sole university official who has no guidelines or criteria to direct the official in their decision whether to permit or deny speech. The suit contends the policy is overbroad and represents an unconstitutional prior restraint.

The suit names as defendants the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, the entity that supervises and manages public institutions including UNO and a number of university officials including the Chancellor and Acting Dean of Student Life. The suit claims the policy violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and asks the court to declare the policy unconstitutional and grant injunctive relief to prohibit the UNO from continuing to enforce the policy.

The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest law firm focusing on constitutional law. The ACLJ is based in Washington, D.C. and its website address is www.aclj.org.