Supreme Court to consider reviving lawsuit restricting evangelizing in small Mississippi town

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Thursday it will consider whether to revive a lawsuit from a man barred from evangelizing outside a small-town Mississippi amphitheater after authorities say he shouted insults at people over a loudspeaker.

Gabriel Olivier, an evangelical Christian, says restricting him from public property violated his religious and free speech rights, but a legal Catch-22 has barred him from challenging the law in court.

Lower courts found he couldn’t file a civil-rights lawsuit because he’d been arrested, and instead needed to file under habeas corpus, a legal remedy open to prisoners. But because he was ticketed rather than imprisoned, his lawyers say that option wasn’t open either, effectively denying him a day in court.

The city of Brandon, Mississippi, on the other hand, says the restrictions aren’t about religious speech, but rather about limiting disturbances caused when he and his group yelled insults like “Jezebel,” “nasty,” and “drunkards” at people passing by.

The ordinance restricts demonstrations near the amphitheater but does allow him to preach from a designated “protest zone,” and has already survived another lawsuit, the city said. The city says the case is about Olivier and his group’s “desire to have their preferred method of protest, without regard for the rights or interests of anyone else.”

Olivier’s attorneys say he was engaging in respectful and protected speech at the time of his arrest, and the case centers on a key legal issue affecting free speech across the political spectrum.

“Every American has First Amendment rights to free speech; and every American has a right to their day in court,” said Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO for First Liberty Institute, which is representing him along with attorney Allyson Ho of the firm Gibson Dunn. “Both of these rights were violated for Gabe Olivier. The Supreme Court will now decide whether those rights will be protected for all Americans.”

The court is expected to hear arguments in the fall.