VICTORY: Preacher No Longer Silenced Outside Abortion Clinic

Jason Cantrell has been here before. He did everything the city asked. He got the permit. He followed the rules. He stood on a public sidewalk outside an abortion clinic in Forest Park, Georgia, opened his Bible, and preached the Gospel. Then someone complained – and the city shut him down, despite his respect for the law.

That unconstitutional system – a permit that turned “null and void” the moment any complaint was received – is no longer hanging over Jason Cantrell’s head. This is a critical legal victory. The city of Forest Park has agreed, by formal stipulation filed in federal court, to issue Jason a new permit that contains no “complaint restriction” whatsoever.

This decision comes as we move forward with a civil rights lawsuit to have this practice declared unconstitutional and permanently enjoined. Today’s agreement ensures that for the duration of this litigation, no permit issued to Jason may include the clause that once gave any passerby the power to silence him with a single phone call.

This is a concrete, court-recognized agreement stating that the City of Forest Park will issue Jason a new Sound Amplifying Device Permit for his ministry location – the same location, the same hours, the same terms – but with one critical difference: the permit will not contain the “complaint condition,” or any provision that is substantively equivalent to it. In plain English, a single anonymous complaint can no longer extinguish Jason’s constitutional rights. We secures the practical protection Jason needed to return to the public square without fear that a listener’s displeasure could silence him mid-sermon. No longer will he be subject to a “heckler’s veto.”

The Heckler’s Veto Is Defeated

The First Amendment has never permitted the government to silence a speaker simply because listeners object to his message. That principle – the prohibition on the so-called “heckler’s veto” – is one of the most well-established doctrines in American free speech law. Forest Park’s permit scheme was a textbook violation: It handed every disgruntled observer an instant veto over constitutionally protected speech and religious exercise. Today’s agreement confirms that this policy cannot and will not be enforced while our case proceeds.

That matters far beyond one preacher in one Georgia suburb. If a city can void a speaker’s permit on a complaint, then no controversial message — no Gospel preaching, no pro-life witness, no street-corner advocacy of any kind — is ever truly secure. The ACLJ will not allow that precedent to stand.

The Case Is Not Over

Let us be clear: This stipulation is a victory, not a final resolution. The ACLJ is pressing forward to secure a final, permanent judgment that strikes the complaint restriction entirely — not just for Jason, but for every preacher, activist, and citizen who ever wants to speak freely on a public sidewalk in that city. The heckler’s veto is defeated — for now. We will keep fighting until it is gone for good.

Take action with us. Sign the petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Pastors.