One major city’s scheme that allowed a Christian pastor to be arrested, twice, because crowds in the streets were triggered to hostility by his words has been struck down.
The demise of Seattle’s “heckler’s veto” agenda comes in a consent order that was entered this week in a case brought by First Liberty Institute on behalf of Pastor Matthew Meinecke.
“Meinecke was censored and arrested on two separate occasions in 2022 for simply reading the Bible to others because his gospel-oriented message triggered hostile reactions from activists,” the legal team explained.
But now in the order, which affirms a “complete victory” for the pastor, Judge Barbara J. Rothstein has granted Meinecke “permanent injunctive relief from the unconstitutional police policy, compensatory damages for the wrongful arrests, and nominal damages for the constitutional violations, along with reasonable attorney fees and expenses,” the institute reported.
“This result is only fitting. The government should never silence the speech of a citizen just because an audience dislikes what it’s hearing,” explained Nate Kellum, senior counsel. “Pastor Meinecke is thrilled to put this case behind him and get back to sharing the gospel on the streets of Seattle.”
The fight erupted just a little over two years ago when Meinecke traveled to the downtown Seattle area to read his Bible aloud, hold up a sign, and hand out literature to those who wanted it.
The events first happened at a pro-abortion rally.
“Despite his evangelistic and peaceful intent, some individuals in the crowd, including Antifa members, did not receive the message well. They took Meinecke’s Bible away from him, ripped out pages from it, knocked Meinecke down, and took one of his shoes,” the institute confirmed.
Seattle police finally arrived, and refused him assistance, instead taking immediate action against Meinecke. They ordered him to leave, then arrested him when he declined.
“Two days later, Meinecke encountered a similar situation at the Seattle Center, a public park where the Seattle PrideFest was occurring. Hecklers mistreated Meinecke again, and Seattle police officers silenced Meinecke again, as way of addressing the problem. The officers arrested Meinecke for refusing to depart from his intended audience,” the institute said.
The fight then turned to courtrooms, and it was the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that judged, “The restrictions on his speech were content-based heckler’s vetoes, where officers curbed his speech once the audience’s hostile reaction manifested.”
And the appeals court said, “Meinecke has established irreparable harm because a loss of First Amendment freedoms constitutes an irreparable injury, and the balance of equities and public interest favors Meinecke.”
A “heckler’s veto” is simply when authorities shut down a speaker because someone else doesn’t like the message, which has been ruled repeatedly a violation of the First Amendment.
WND reported when the conflict developed police in Seattle chose to ignore actual criminal activity that was going on, instead attacking Meinecke for his speech.
The appeals court had returned the case to the lower court with instructions for a resolution.
The judges there had said, “The prototypical heckler’s veto case is one in which the government silences particular speech or a particular speaker ‘due to an anticipated disorderly or violent reaction of the audience. As such, it ‘is a form of content discrimination, generally forbidden in a traditional or designated public forum.’ The Supreme Court has emphasized as ‘firmly settled’ that ‘the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers, or simply because bystanders object to peaceful and orderly demonstrations.’ … ‘Listeners’ reaction to speech is not a content-neutral basis for regulation.’ …. It is apparent from the facts, including the video available from police body cameras, that the Seattle police directed Meinecke to leave the area because of the reaction his Bible-reading provoked at the Dobbs and PrideFest protests….”
https://www.wndnewscenter.org/triggered-hostile-reactions-judgment-day-for-pastor-arrested-for-preaching-in-major-u-s-city/