A federal judge ruled in favor of a Christian preacher who sued Seattle after he was arrested for proselytizing at a pro-choice rally.
The order permanently blocks the city and police from using a local obstruction-of-police ordinance against Meinecke “in public parks, streets, or other traditional public fora based on real or anticipated hostile reaction of an audience.”
In the settlement, the city agreed to pay Meinecke $35,000 in compensatory damages, along with $80,000 for attorney’s costs, his lawyer, Nate Kellum, told The Epoch Times. Kellum is senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit public interest law firm based in Plano, Texas.
The case goes back to June 24, 2022, when pro-abortion activists held a rally to protest the Supreme Court’s decision earlier that day in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade (1973). Dobbs held that abortion was not a constitutional right and returned regulation of abortion to the states.
Meinecke said he attended the rally to read the Bible aloud, display a sign, and distribute literature, but not to condemn abortion.
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