HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a
lawsuit Friday on behalf of Jews for Jesus against the town of Oyster Bay, where a Christian woman was arrested for verbally sharing her faith and distributing literature at an outdoor public concert. Twice, Oyster Bay’s permit-for-free-speech ordinance has been ruled unconstitutional, and an
ADF-allied attorney secured a dismissal of the town’s charges against the woman in March.
“Christians shouldn’t be arrested and silenced for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF-allied attorney Frederick Nelson of the American Liberties Institute. “City officials have no right to threaten and arrest citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights in public, especially on the pretext of revised codes that have already been ruled unconstitutional.”
Susan Mendelson was charged with violating an Oyster Bay town code for handing out literature without a permit at John J. Burns Park in August 2006. After the state court dismissed the charges against Mendelson, Nelson filed a federal complaint on behalf of her and other Jews for Jesus members prohibited from exercising their First Amendment rights at the public park, challenging the constitutionality of the town code. In 2007, while the case was still pending, the town adopted new park regulations, but still required a permit from the parks commissioner in order to distribute literature.
“Exercising your First Amendment rights is not a crime,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson, who is also involved in the case. “Christians have the same free speech rights as anyone else in America.”
Oyster Bay made further revisions to its town code in June 2008, but kept the requirement to obtain a permit for the distribution of any “sign, placard, notice, leaflet, declaration, or appeal of any kind.” Despite warnings that the new town code and park regulations were still unconstitutional, the town decided to keep its permit requirement and ignored the precedent clearly indicating the town was not complying with constitutional mandates. Because the town refused to modify its permit requirement, the parties instead chose to reach a
settlement of the federal lawsuit in July 2008.
Shortly afterwards in July 2008, a month after the town’s latest revision, Mendelson went to a public outdoor concert at the park with a friend to hand out Jews for Jesus leaflets and speak with attendees willing to hear their message. A public safety official and Nassau County police officers told Mendelson that she could not distribute literature without a permit. After explaining that a permit is not required for her to exercise her First Amendment rights and that she would not, therefore, be applying for a permit, Mendelson was arrested and charged with trespassing and violation of the permit ordinance.
- Complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Jews for Jesus v. Town of Oyster Bay
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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