Can the Government Silence a Street Preacher? The ACLJ Says No

A Christian minister. A public sidewalk. A small amplifier.

And a question every American should care about: Does the First Amendment protect your right to actually be heard?

That’s the situation facing our client, Jeff Russell – a devout Christian and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, resident who wants to share his faith on the public streets of his city. We have sent a legal demand letter on his behalf to defend his right to freely share the Gospel.

Mr. Russell isn’t asking for anything extraordinary. He’s not demanding a stage, a permit, or a parade. He’s asking for what every American already has: the constitutional right to stand on a public sidewalk and speak. The First Amendment doesn’t belong to the politically connected or to those the government happens to agree with. It belongs to everyone – including a man with a message he believes can change lives.

What makes this case particularly important is that the city of Lancaster’s own noise control ordinance – Chapter 198 – contains an explicit First Amendment exemption. Section 198-6(H) unmistakably states that “[e]xpression or communication protected by the United States Constitution, including the First Amendment” is exempt from the ordinance’s provisions. Mr. Russell proactively reached out to city officials, filed the right paperwork, and did everything a good-faith citizen is supposed to do. He tried to work within the system – and he deserves a response that honors the Constitution.

Take action with the ACLJ and protect pastors. Sign the petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Pastors.

The law literally says Mr. Russell is protected. Yet the city’s bureau of planning told him he isn’t. Their reasoning? That while the sound of his speech may be protected, the device he uses to amplify it is not. Think about that for a moment. Under the city’s interpretation, Mr. Russell can preach – as long as nobody can actually hear him. That’s not a limitation on his rights – it’s an erasure of them.

The Supreme Court addressed this kind of question decades ago. In Saia v. New York(1948), the Court struck down a municipal ordinance requiring permission before using a sound amplifier in public, recognizing that the right to reach an audience – not merely to speak into the wind – is constitutionally protected. “Loudspeakers are today indispensable instruments of effective public speech,” the Court wrote. For a single person standing on a busy urban street, a small personal amplifier isn’t a luxury. It’s the only way to be heard at all.

The constitutional problems with Lancaster’s enforcement don’t stop there. Section 198-4(C)(7) prohibits any noise-creating device used in a way that “draws the public’s attention” – but that standard, without a volume threshold or any objective measurement, is difficult to apply consistently or fairly.

Every effective act of public communication is designed to draw attention. What speaker on a public sidewalk isn’t trying to draw attention? That’s the whole point of public speech.

The provision offers no volume threshold, no geographic boundary, no objective standard of any kind. It hands enforcement officers an open-ended veto over any expressive activity they don’t like – which is precisely what the vagueness doctrine exists to forbid. Without clearer guidance, enforcement becomes unpredictable, and that uncertainty itself can chill the exercise of constitutional rights.

Last week, the ACLJ sent a demand letter to Lancaster officials, calling on officials to immediately recognize Mr. Russell’s right to conduct his amplified street ministry, free from citation or prosecution, as the ordinance’s own language requires. If our client is cited or arrested, we will be ready.

The First Amendment is not a bureaucratic inconvenience. It is the supreme law of the land – and we will defend it. It belongs to everyone, including a street preacher with a small amplifier and a big faith.

Take action with the ACLJ and protect pastors. Sign the petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Pastors.