The Supreme Court will hear a dispute next term over a street preacher’s right to spread the gospel on a public sidewalk, a challenge to a city ordinance in Mississippi that restricts where and how loud he can speak.
Gabriel Olivier practices his Christian faith by spreading the Gospel to strangers and trying to engage them in conversations.
A 2019 city ordinance in Brandon, Mississippi, requires him to be at the public amphitheater to do so.
Two years after the city law was enacted, Mr. Olivier was trying to speak with people on the public sidewalk after seeing the amphitheater was too far away.
He was told to do so only near the restricted area. After he refused, he was arrested and fined for preaching on the sidewalk rather than at the amphitheater.
He paid the $305 fine and pleaded no contest. He later sued the city to vindicate his