Dearborn loses court appeal on 1st Amendment rights at Arab Fest

Updates on these previous posts. Another rather obvious instance of creeping sharia quietly applied against non-Muslims. via Dearborn loses court appeal on 1st Amendment rights at Arab Fest – News – Press and Guide. h/t Ray

CINCINATTI — Dearborn’s restrictions on leafleting at the Arab International Festival are unconstitutional and the city could have to pay damages for it, a group of federal judges ruled today.

In a split decision, a three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the city infringed on Christian Pastor George Saieg’s right to free speech by instituting in 2009 a policy prohibiting pamphleteering during the three-day June street festival.

The court further ruled Saieg could seek nominal damages against the city. Nominal damages are small sums intended to show the harm suffered by a plaintiff is technical rather than actual.

Saieg, a California native, attended Arab Fest from 2004-08 with anywhere between 90 and 120 volunteers to distribute leaflets along Warren Avenue sidewalks. Police Chief Ronald Haddad instituted the leaflet ban shortly after he was hired, citing concerns over crowd control and traffic movement. Saieg filed suit against the city in 2009 when he was made aware of the policy.

A federal judge in Detroit denied a temporary restraining order that year for Saieg, and instead of walking the festival grounds Saieg was given a booth at the festival free of charge. But it was “poorly lit” and located by carnival rides, “which attracted mostly children,” the order noted.

In 2010, the same judge who denied the temporary restraining order denied a motion for summary judgment by Saieg and instead awarded it to the city, ruling that the city’s leaflet ban was constitutional. Saieg appealed the decision to the 6th Circuit Court and was granted a temporary injunction, “to distribute his religious literature in the streets contained within . . . the ‘outer perimeter’ or ‘buffer zone,’” of the festival but not “within the festival itself,” at the 2010 festival.

Today’s ruling was a final decision on that temporary injunction.

“Absent an injunction, Saieg will continue to suffer irreparable injury for which there is no adequate remedy at law,” wrote Judge Karen Moore on behalf of the majority.

The court remanded the case to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan for further proceedings, which could include further injunctions in favor of Saieg in advance of this year’s Arab Fest, scheduled for June 17-19.

“We’re very pleased and we think it’s the correct ruling,” said Saieg’s attorney, Robert Muise. “It’s what we’ve been arguing since 2009.”

More details at the Thomas More Law Center’s website.