MISSOURI
Washington Post
Ban on profane, rude, or indecent speech that disturbs houses of worship violates the First Amendment
By Eugene Volokh March 9
So holds the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in today’s SNAP v. Joyce, a case in which the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic (which I run) filed an amicus brief. The statute, Missouri Revised Statutes § 574.035 (the Missouri House of Worship Protection Act), in relevant part, criminalized behavior that
1. “[i]ntentionally and unreasonably disturbs … or disquiets” a house of worship
2. through “profane discourse [and] rude or indecent behavior”
3. “so near [the house of worship] as to disturb the order and solemnity of the worship services.”
(The statute also prohibits excessive noise and physical intrusion into the church, but these provisions were not being challenged.) The court noted that the statute was potentially quite broad:
[C]ritical portrayals of Muhammad outside a mosque or of the Pope outside a Catholic Church might well be considered profane or indecent by their audiences. Others may find language using the name of holy figures as swear words not only disrespectful, but profane as well. Similar expressions in the near vicinity of a house of worship have the potential to disturb or disquiet those present for worship. The meaning of “profane,” or irreverence to the sacred, is not a well defined legislative term familiar to people of different faiths. Any silent demonstration outside a house of worship would likely be able to create a disturbance only by the content of its message. Even expression that may be perceived as offensive, rude, or disruptive remains protected by the First Amendment.
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