ADF: 6th Circuit hearing on Miami U. speech policy
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4422
ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND MEDIA ADVISORY
March 10, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom
ADF attorney available to media after hearing on free speech at Miami University
WHO: ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum
WHAT: Available for media questions following hearing in Gilles v. Garland
WHEN: Tuesday, March 11, immediately following hearing, which begins at 9 a.m. EDT
WHERE: Outside the entrance of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Potter Stewart Courthouse, 100 E. Fifth St., Cincinnati
CINCINNATI — Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum will be available to answer questions from the media following his participation in oral arguments Tuesday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Gilles v. Garland. Kellum is appealing a lower court decision that upheld a Miami University speech policy that prohibited a Christian man from exercising his First Amendment rights on university property.
“Christians shouldn’t be penalized for expressing their beliefs,” said Kellum. “When campus security threatened this man with arrest for sharing a Christian message, they denied him his constitutional right to engage in religious speech, which is protected by the First Amendment. We trust the appellate court will reverse this decision so that the constitutional rights of Americans to engage in free speech and religious expression in public will not be threatened.”
On Oct. 14, 2002, a Miami University security officer approached Jim Gilles, who was sharing a Christian message with passers-by on campus. The officer informed Gilles and another man with him that free speech was not allowed on university property unless they had a permit. The officer threatened them with arrest if they continued. When the men went to the campus security office, they were told they could only speak on sidewalks and streets outside of the campus.
In April 2007, a federal judge dismissed the case, stating that Gilles could not prove that his rights were violated. ADF attorneys appealed that decision to the 6th Circuit.
A fact sheet is available on the lawsuit at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/GillesFactSheet.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.