Legal Issue(s): Free Speech
Court: N/A
Case Status: Success
Center's Role: Counsel
Case Description
Eric Dressel is a campus minister who for the past dozen years has been a full-time evangelist, mostly at college campuses. When preaching, Mr. Dressel uses an amplifier so that he does not have to shout over downtown traffic, lest he sound angry. The Center, along with local counsel, represented Mr. Dressel against the city of Miami Beach after a city official cited him for preaching on a noisy downtown sidewalk using an amplifier. Together, the Center and local counsel wrote the city attorney arguing that the city’s noise ordinance violated Mr. Dressel’s free speech rights on a quintessential public forum and asking the city to amend its noise ordinance to constitutional compliance. The ordinance currently is virtually standardless, allowing for selective and, therefore, unconstitutional enforcement.
The deputy city attorney withdrew the citation and promised not to interfere with Mr. Dressel’s religious speech on public sidewalks. This is an example of how the Center—for almost 50 years—has overcome or resolved unlawful infringements on religious freedom with a non-threatening letter educating officials on the law.
