Protesters Seek Dismissal of Church-Invasion Charges, Claim First Amendment Protection
Activists who stormed a church during a service have filed a motion to throw out federal civil-rights charges, asserting their conduct was protected speech.
A federal indictment charged 38 protesters, including leader Nekima Levy Armstrong, with breaching the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act after they entered a church service, shouted "Who shut this down? We shut this down!" and prevented parents from reaching children. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that their conduct was solely protected speech and assembly under the First Amendment and that the government was punishing them for the message delivered in a religious setting.
The filing denies any intent to disrupt worship, despite evidence that protesters blocked aisles, shouted at crying children, and called a child’s parents Nazis. Attorneys for Cities Church, Renee Carlson and Doug Wardlow of True North Legal, called the claim "absurd" and argued the intrusion terrified families and cannot be shielded by free-speech rights. The motion cites Snyder v. Phelps, but critics note the protesters entered the sanctuary, unlike the Supreme Court’s precedent involving distant protest. The case underscores the clash between constitutional free-speech claims and the right to free exercise of religion.
Why it matters
It tests how far First Amendment protections extend when protests disrupt religious worship.
In this story
