The City of Chicago is at it again. Having failed to learn from their previous defeat in federal court, the City is once again trying to curtail religious speech in its public spaces. Ethan Acevedo, a student at Moody Bible College, was arrested and wrongly charged with violating Chicago’s noise ordinance when he preached the gospel across the street from a Planned Parenthood facility. His alleged crime? He used a microphone and speaker to amplify his voice to an audible level. Police intimidated him and claimed alternately that amplification was not allowed at all or that he needed a permit. Neither is true.
Robin Rubrecht, an associate at Mauck & Baker, defended Ethan at his criminal trial, and he was found not guilty. Ethan then retained Mauck & Baker to file suit against the City and the officer who arrested him, bringing claims for false arrest and violation of his freedom of speech and free exercise. As part of that suit, Mauck & Baker filed a motion for preliminary injunction against the City and the arresting officer, seeking the court’s protection against further illegal arrest for plainly legal conduct. The motion is currently pending before Judge Alexakis at the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
