The Supreme Court gave a green light Friday to a Mississippi preacher to challenge an ordinance he said prevented him from evangelizing near a public amphitheater.
The justices, in a unanimous ruling, rejected the city of Brandon’s argument that because Gabriel Olivier was convicted under the ordinance, he lost his right to preemptively challenge it in the future.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, said if someone else had brought the same challenge, he or she would be allowed to move forward.
“His suit to enjoin the ordinance, so he can return to the amphitheater, may proceed,” she wrote.
Mr. Olivier says he practices his Christian faith by spreading the gospel to strangers and trying to engage them in conversations.
The Brandon ordinance required him to be in a designated protest area if he wanted to demonstrate near the amphitheater. He felt that was too restrictive and went to another location during a 2021 concert, using a loudspeaker to harangue patrons as “Jezebels” and “whores.”
He was arrested for preaching on the sidewalk. He pleaded no contest and paid a $305 fine.
He then said he would return to demonstrate, and filed a lawsuit to preemptively challenge the ordinance as unconstitutional.
An appeals court ruled he was barred by a 1994 Supreme Court ruling, Heck v. Humphrey, that prohibits the use of a preemptive challenge to try to undo a past conviction.
Justice Kagan, though, said that didn’t apply to Mr. Olivier, who was “seeking a purely prospective remedy” in this case.
The ruling sends the case back to the lower courts for Mr. Olivier to be able to argue his challenge to the ordinance.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.