In Roswell v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, (D MD, Jan.19, 2024), a Maryland federal district court dismissed a suit by an anti-abortion sidewalk counselor who communicates with women entering and exiting a Planned Parenthood Clinic. A city ordinance prevented plaintiff from using A-frame signs in front of the clinic to communicate his religious convictions about abortions as well as information about alternatives to abortion. A permit to erect such signs can be obtained only by the owner of the property or an agent of the owner. Finding that the city ordinance did not violate plaintiff’s free speech rights, the court said in part:
Plaintiff asks this Court to find that zoning ordinances cannot distinguish between the owners and tenants of adjacent properties utilizing A-frame signs for non-residential uses and those with no such property interest without running afoul of First Amendment principles. Fatal to Roswell’s position is the simple fact that the regulations do not “target speech based on its communicative content.” …
The court also rejected plaintiff’s free exercise of religion challenge, saying in part:
Here, the challenged ordinances are unconcerned with religious exercise. They neither prohibit nor compel religious conduct. And even if the ordinances did burden religious exercise, a law that “incidentally burden[s] religion” does not violate the Free Exercise Clause if it is “neutral and generally applicable.”