After Chicago Riots and “Noise Demos,” the Windy City Cracks Down … On Sidewalk Preachers

​Chicago was the site of riots in 2020, with economic damages exceeding $66 million. In 2024, groups successfully protested the Democratic National Convention and Vice President Harris with a “noise demo” that included banging pots and megaphones.
 
But Brett Raio finally took things too far for the Chicago police when he recently preached the gospel on a Chicago street. Police charged Raio for violating a noise ordinance, despite video evidence proving that Raio’s decibel levels from a handheld mic with an amplifier were well within reasonable limits. This arrest further demonstrated that the street preacher acted peacefully during interactions with police. Now, the American Center for Law & Justice is filing a court action on Raio’s behalf.

That action relies on a line of cases from the Supreme Court of the United States, which has long recognized the right to engage in free speech and debate on sidewalks and other public areas because they are considered “traditional public forums.” In fact, the Court even addressed the use of sound amplification devices in such circumstances. In Saia v. New York (1948) the Court declared that:
 
“A city ordinance forbidding the use of sound amplification devices in public places except with the permission of the Chief of Police and prescribing no standards for the exercise of his discretion is unconstitutional on its face, since it establishes a previous restraint on the right of free speech in violation of the First Amendment, made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.”
 
In Chicago, authorities seem to increasingly consider religious people – particularly Christians – as targets, while allowing other, patently obnoxious behavior by others. In 2022, Protect The 1st’s policy director Erik Jaffe filed a certiorari petition in Keister v. Bell, which involved the right of evangelist Rodney Keister to stand on city-owned sidewalks on a public street in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, near the University of Alabama. The UA campus police enforced an agreement with the city to clamp down on expressive activity at that portion of the sidewalk.
 
The Eleventh Circuit erroneously ruled against Keister using a multifactor balancing test and allowed the University to forbid expressive activity. As we wrote at the time, “Even assuming the propriety of a balancing test, the Eleventh Circuit’s circular reliance on the University’s intent to suppress speech was an improper fulcrum for converting the most quintessential of traditional public fora into a limited forum allowing suppression.”
 
Given all this, it’s time the Supreme Court addressed the issue of using public order laws to crack down on constitutionally protected speech. A sidewalk preacher should not fear arrest over the complaint of any local Demetrius. The same applies to all religions. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, for example, recognizes that “traditional public fora are open for expressive activity regardless of the government intent.” We hope that the court considering Raio’s case recognizes the importance of ensuring that religious speech is not persecuted for merely being public by granting him the relief he seeks.

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