Supreme Court Allows Preacher's Suit on Protest Ordinance

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Friday that an evangelical street preacher in Mississippi can proceed with a civil lawsuit challenging a local ordinance that restricted his demonstrations near a suburban amphitheater, rejecting arguments that his prior conviction barred the case.

Gabriel Olivier, who describes himself as a Christian evangelist, was arrested in May 2021 outside the Brandon Amphitheater in Brandon, Mississippi, for refusing to move his group to a designated protest zone as required by a city ordinance. Authorities said Olivier and his companions used a loudspeaker to shout insults at concertgoers, including terms like "whores," "Jezebel" and "nasty," while displaying large signs depicting aborted fetuses and distributing flyers. The group protested during events such as a concert by country artist Lee Brice, prompting police intervention to prevent confrontations and traffic disruptions. Olivier pleaded no contest to violating the ordinance, receiving a small fine and one year of unsupervised probation.

Olivier filed a federal lawsuit shortly after, arguing that the ordinance unconstitutionally infringed on his First Amendment rights to free speech and...