“Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” – ACLJ at Supreme Court Defending Preachers in Vital Civil Rights Case

At the ACLJ, we are willing to fight for religious liberty, freedom of speech, parental rights, and other key constitutional liberties inside the courtroom. However, a dangerous precedent is threatening citizens’ rights to challenge rogue government action. The ACLJ is fighting this precedent at the U.S. Supreme Court to defend yet another preacher being unconstitutionally targeted for sharing the Gospel.

We’ve told you about the recent uptick in preachers being arrested in major U.S. cities, and this is just another example of this unconstitutional war on faith.

The ACLJ just filed a critical amicus brief at the Supreme Court in defense of Gabriel Olivier, a preacher who wanted to share his faith near a public amphitheater and was criminally charged for “protesting” outside the city’s designated protest zone, an unconstitutional limitation on his evangelism. He was charged and paid his fine. Undeterred, he wanted to go back to the park and share his faith, so he sued, challenging the city’s restriction on his and others’ speech.

Unfortunately, the federal courts told this preacher that he couldn’t sue and that they wouldn’t even hear his case. Why? The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals applied a Supreme Court case, Heck v. Humphrey, and decided that since he had already paid his fine, he was barred from ever challenging the law. If that sounds crazy to you, it should. That’s not how our justice system is supposed to work. In a 9-8 vote, the full Fifth Circuit stood by its decision en banc, and now Olivier is going to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the highest Court to right this wrong.

Why This Case Is Important

First, the ACLJ stands for the rule of law. When Congress wrote statutes like Section 1983, the law at issue in this case, it wanted to make sure that any American had the ability to vindicate their rights. This decision flies in the face of the spirit and text of this law. It also fractures the unity of American courts, as both the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have found that Heck does not prevent these types of lawsuits.

Second, we at the ACLJ rely on laws like Section 1983 as a tool to defend our clients’ rights. Our ACLJ members know that our clients often face hostile state and city governments, and their only recourse is the courts. When preachers were harassed on the streets of Chicago, we did not hesitate to take Chicago to court under that very same law.

If the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene in this case, the consequences for the ACLJ, and indeed lovers of the Bill of Rights everywhere, will suffer. Indeed, one judge of the Fifth Circuit, in his dissent, said that this precedent tells citizens that “the message is: ‘Heads I win, tails you lose.’”

What the ACLJ Is Doing About It

The ACLJ is no stranger to the U.S. Supreme Court; we frequently take on high-profile cases, both as counsel for a party or as amicus. Here, we’re joining as amicus, urging the Supreme Court to correct this problem. Not only is this decision wrong on the law, but it’s also unjust, with potentially dire consequences. The ACLJ will fight for justice, and today that means urging the Supreme Court to overturn this decision so everyone, especially preachers, can have their day in court.