Court Refuses Summary Judgment In Religious Leafleting Case

Frantz v. Gress, (ED PA, Oct. 25, 2007), involved a claim by plaintiff that he was impeded by police officers in his attempts to hand out religious pamphlets on a public sidewalk in Philadelphia. Plaintiff argued this was an unconstitutional content-based restriction on his speech. The court refused to grant plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, however, holding that issues of material fact remain regarding the reasons officers did not allow plaintiff to continue distributing his pamphlets in the manner he wished. The court also, though, rejected defendants' claims of qualified immunity.