In Harmon v. City of Norman, Oklahoma, (10th Cir., March 1, 2023), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court's dismissal of challenges to the city's disturbing-the-peace ordinance brought by abortion clinic sidewalk demonstrators who preach to clinic visitors in an attempt to persuade them against abortion. The court said in part:
The demonstrators filed a three-count complaint, seeking relief from the City and Officer Jeff Robertson under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The complaint asserted as-applied and facial challenges to the ordinance under the Free Speech Clause, Free Exercise Clause, and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and further alleged that Norman failed to train its police officers. The complaint also requested preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop the City from enforcing the ordinance....
We hold that § 15-503(3) is constitutional under the Free Speech Clause as applied to the demonstrators. The demonstrators have not shown that the subsection was content-based, insufficiently tailored, or fatal to their sidewalk ministry....
The district court determined that rational-basis deference applied [to the Free Exercise claim] because the demonstrators presented no evidence that § 15-503(3) was religiously motivated. We agree....
The court went on to conclude that plaintiffs lacked standing to bring facial challenges to several portions of the Ordinance. It also concluded that the Ordinance's ban on "loud or unusual sounds" is not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad.
