7th Circuit: Right to distribute religious literature affirmed
ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE
August 13, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom
7th Circuit:
Right to distribute religious literature affirmed
Police fined Granite City, Ill., man for offering tract through car window
CHICAGO — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled Thursday that an ordinance restricting the distribution of religious literature in Granite City is unconstitutional, upholding a previous district court ruling. The Alliance Defense Fund has provided funding for the case, being litigated by an ADF-allied attorney, for more than four years.
“Christians shouldn’t be penalized for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF-allied attorney Jason Craddock, who represented Horina in both the trial and appellate courts in the case. “Exercising your First Amendment rights is not a crime. We believe the court made the right call here, both for our client and for every American who treasures free speech.”
In 2004, Donald Horina was fined $100 for placing a tract through the open window of a private vehicle. He was cited based on an ordinance forbidding public distribution of handbills, then fined under a different ordinance after amendment of the charge. In 2005, Horina filed suit against the city of Granite City.
In August 2005, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois put a halt to enforcement of the handbill ordinance, finding that it violated the First Amendment. The city then repealed the ordinance and replaced it with one specifically forbidding placement of handbills on car windows or “temporarily or continuously unoccupied” houses or buildings. But the court ruled that the changes in the new ordinance were too minor to make it constitutional (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3887).
“The Constitution allows citizens to engage in the expression of free ideas without being subjected to arbitrary restrictions imposed by local governments. That is the principle that was at stake,” said Craddock. “The court’s confirmation that the ordinance is unconstitutional means that Granite City citizens–and by extension citizens throughout the 7th Circuit–can once again express their beliefs without fear of reprisal by local authorities.”
A copy of the ruling from the 7th Circuit in Horina v. City of Granite City is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/HorinaWin.pdf.
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.