Archive for October 27th, 2005
ADL Press Release: Oct 14, 2005
LOS ANGELES – Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday against a California Superior Court judge who declared all public areas of Los Angeles County courthouses "no speech zones."
"The courts are supposed to be protecting our First Amendment rights, not suppressing them," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson. "This judge’s order is a constitutional travesty and has already forced our clients and other law-abiding citizens from engaging in classic, ordinary free speech."
ADF attorneys represent best-selling author and TV co-host Ray Comfort and Pastor Emeal Zwayne, two Christian ministers who have been peacefully sharing their faith most mornings for the last 2-1/2 years outside of the Los Angeles County courthouse in Bellflower. For 20 minutes each morning, Comfort and Zwayne talk with persons waiting outside before the courthouse opens for the day. They have never caused any disturbance for the court or for uninterested persons.
Because of the court’s "no speech zone" order, police officers removed the two men from a walkway outside of the courthouse on Sept. 30 and told them not to return.