The Supreme Court considered on Wednesday whether to allow a Mississippi pastor to challenge the constitutionality of a law for future enforcement despite facing punishment for a previous violation of the law.

Gabriel Olivier filed a lawsuit against a local law in Brandon, Mississippi, which bans protesting near a public amphitheater outside of designated zones, for which he has previously been punished for violating, in a bid to protect against future enforcement. Olivier alleges that the law violates the First and 14th Amendments because it bars him from preaching outside the designated zones, but lower federal courts tossed his lawsuit, claiming he could not challenge a law that he had previously been punished for violating.

Recommended Stories

Clarence Thomas questions basis for

See Full Page