Written by Don Byrd
Christian evangelists who traveled to an Islamic culture festival in Dearborn, Michigan with signs and megaphones intended to cause a stir and provoke a reaction. They certainly did. Their anti-Islam sentiments spoken at festival attendees angered some young people who responded by hurling bottles and other objects at them. Because of the danger of the situation, local police asked the protesters to leave, threatening them with citations for breaching the peace. Yesterday, a federal judge ruled the actions by police did not violate the Free Speech or Free Exercise rights of the protesters (pdf).
Defendants’ actions were designed to prevent disorder as the result of the exercise by Plaintiffs of their constitutional rights. Officials interfered with Plaintiffs’ speech only after making an effort to impose order and only when they perceived imminence of further violence and feared, due to the sheer size of the Festival and the number of attendees, that things would spiral out of control. The Court further finds that Defendants acted reasonably in trying to protect Plaintiffs from the crowd before they intervened and that the “strong interest in ensuring the public safety and order” justified Defendants’ intervention.
As for the evangelists’ claims that their free exercise rights were violated, the judge said the facts alleged were insufficient.
Plaintiffs have failed to provide any evidence supporting their contention that their free exercise rights were violated. In fact, the Court notes that other than to recite to myriad case law, Plaintiffs have failed to provide any details regarding their free exercise claim. The Court will not piece the argument together on behalf of counsel. Put differently, Plaintiffs may not merely announce a position and leave it to the Court to determine and rationalize the basis of this claim. Given the absence of legal argument coupled with the dearth of factual support, Defendants are entitled to summary judgment on Plaintiffs’ free exercise claim as a matter of law.
As I posted earlier this month, festival organizers are moving to a different venue this year in an effort to avoid the disruptive protests that have marked recent events.
