Written by Don Byrd
A New Orleans city ordinance that has been used to arrest street preachers on Bourbon Street was amended by the City Council last week in an effort to make the legislation constitutional. The original law barred “aggressive solicitation” on Bourbon Street after dark by outlawing any use of the area “for the purpose of disseminating any social, political or religious message.” A couple of lawsuits later, the language has been changed.
The Times-Picayune has more on the new version:
It removed the specific reference to Bourbon Street from a 2011 ordinance designed to crack down on “aggressive solicitation” throughout the French Quarter.
The council also agreed to tighten the description of behavior that can still lead to arrest. It replaced the former “offensive, obscene or abusive language” with the narrower “obscene language,” and eliminated a ban on “conduct which reasonably tends to arouse alarm or anger in others” in favor of banning only grabbing or following someone else “for the sole purpose of harassment.”
Using a public street that’s open to all for the purpose of disseminating a political or religious message is classic First Amendment expression. The line between preaching and harassment has unfortunately become all too thin. The proper response, though, is not to ban the preaching. A judge will decide whether those changes are sufficient.
