The Supreme Court on July 3 agreed to consider an evangelist’s stalled challenge to a protest ordinance in a Mississippi city.
The court’s new decision in Olivier v. City of Brandon took the form of an unsigned order. No justices dissented. The court did not explain its decision.
The nation’s highest court agreed to review whether the evangelist has a legal right to sue the city to block the ordinance.
The ordinance in Brandon, Mississippi requires that three hours before and an hour after a live event, protests and demonstrations near the city’s amphitheater take place only in a designated area. The local law also forbids the use of loudspeakers that are “clearly audible more than 100 feet” away from the designated area. The restrictions apply “regardless of the content and/or expression” of the demonstration or protest, according to the city’s brief.
The petitioner, Gabriel Olivier, is a Christian who feels “called to share the gospel with his fellow citizens,” according to the petition he filed with the Supreme Court.
When Olivier “shares his faith he hands out religious literature ‘expounding on the gospel message’ and ‘attempts to engage individuals in conversation or debate on various religious topics,’” the petition states.
On several occasions in 2018 and 2019, Olivier engaged in these actions at the amphitheater.
In 2019, the city enacted the ordinance and two years later Olivier returned to the amphitheater to share his faith, the petition said.
The chief of police directed him to the designated area but Olivier considered the area to be too far from the amphitheater for attendees to listen to his message, so he walked back to the sidewalk and shared his message there, according to the petition.
Olivier was charged with violating the ordinance. He presented a no-contest plea in municipal court a received a $304 fine plus a suspended sentence of 10 days of imprisonment. Olivier paid the fine and did not appeal, the petition said.
He brought a lawsuit against the city under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, a federal law that allows individuals to sue governments for civil rights violations. He sought a court declaration that the ordinance ran afoul of the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and asked for an injunction blocking enforcement of the ordinance against him.
A federal district court ruled against Olivier in September 2022.
He appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which in August 2023 also ruled against him. The circuit court applied its precedent construing the Supreme Court’s 1994 decision in Heck v. Humphrey.
Heck v. Humphrey held that to recover damages for an allegedly unconstitutional conviction in a Section 1983 lawsuit, the plaintiff has to prove that the conviction has been overturned.
The Fifth Circuit held that under Heck, Olivier was unable to challenge the ordinance, even if enforcing it in the future would infringe his constitutional rights.
In other words, the circuit court determined that because he paid a fine for violating the ordinance, this permanently removed his right to sue under Section 1983, the petition said.
Olivier asked the Supreme Court to look at whether the Fifth Circuit’s ruling was consistent with prior decisions issued by the nation’s highest court.
The Fifth Circuit is the only federal circuit court that interprets Heck as barring Section 1983 claims that are aimed at preventing the future enforcement of laws that a plaintiff was previously found to have violated, the petition said.
“Even though judges in multiple dissenting opinions have criticized this understanding of Heck since the Fifth Circuit first adopted it, the Fifth Circuit refuses to change course,” the petition stated.
The city filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to reject the appeal, saying the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in the case was correct. In the brief, the city gave its version of what transpired outside the amphitheater.
After the city opened its amphitheater in 2018, Olivier visited the facility with a group to “evangelize,” the brief said.
Outside the amphitheater, the group used a loudspeaker to call individuals “Jezebels” and other derogatory names. The group held up large signs showing, among other things, pictures of aborted fetuses covered in blood, the brief said.
These activities caused the city hardship as police had to step away from traffic posts “to prevent fights from breaking out between the group and event-paying attendees.” Event attendees walked in the road to avoid Olivier’s group that was on the sidewalk.
In May 2021, Olivier and his group showed up at the amphitheater during a live concert. Olivier spoke with a police officer while another member of the group used a megaphone. An officer ordered him to go the designated area but he declined to do so and was charged with violating the ordinance, the brief said.
Olivier’s attorney, Allyson Ho of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher in Dallas, Texas, hailed the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case.
“We’re pleased the Court agreed to take up this important case, and we look forward to presenting our arguments that Mr. Olivier is entitled to his day in court,” she told The Epoch Times.
Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO, and chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, which is part of Olivier’s legal team, said he is also looking forward to the high court hearing the case.
“Every American has First Amendment rights to free speech, and every American has a right to their day in court,” he told The Epoch Times.
Olivier’s rights were violated and the Supreme Court “will now decide whether those rights will be protected for all Americans,” Shackelford said.
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to the city’s attorney, Todd Butler of Phelps Dunbar in Flowood, Mississippi.
No reply was received by publication time.
This article by Matthew Vadum appeared July 3, 2025, in The Epoch Times. It was updated July 4, 2025.