Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Appellate Court Says Injunction Against Church Picketer Was Too Broad

In Tenth Presbyterian Church v. Snyder, (PA Super, Oct. 18, 2021), a Pennsylvania state appellate court held that the trial court was justified in issuing a preliminary injunction against Phillip Snyder, an excommunicated member of the church, who picketed the church every Sunday. However the appellate court held that the preliminary injunction's requirement that Snyder remain at least 5,000 feet from the church property was not narrowly enough tailored. The appellate court pointed out that Snyder had engaged in aggressive and agitated behavior that frightened Church members, and that he carried a concealed firearm. Nevertheless, it concluded:

[T]he trial court couched its preliminary injunction in the broadest terms to protect the interest of the Church and its members, disregarding Snyder’s constitutional right to protest the Church and its leadership. A five-thousand-foot restriction places Snyder well beyond the point at which his constitutional right to protest is utterly extinguished.  Put succinctly, the five-thousand-foot restriction is not “couched in the narrowest terms that will accomplish the pin-pointed objective permitted by constitutional mandate and the essential needs of public order.”