The Justice Department is seeking information from the City of Fort Worth to determine whether to launch a civil rights investigation into the Fort Worth Police Department after publicly posted videos appeared to show officers restricting Christian street preachers' speech based on its content.A Monday letter from Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon asked Fort Worth City Attorney Hon.Leann D.
Guzman to help them determine if they should investigate the Texas city's police department after videos showed officers potentially violating people’s First Amendment rights."The Civil Rights Division (Division) is committed to ensuring that all Americans—regardless of the content or viewpoint of their speech—are protected from unlawful restrictions on expressive activity," Dhillon wrote."Government actors may not engage in viewpoint discrimination or restrict peaceful expressive conduct simply because the speech may be unpopular, offensive, or controversial.
The Supreme Court long has held that the First Amendment prohibits government discrimination against speech based on its message, including discrimination tied to the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker."ARKANSAS TAKES HOME TOP RANKING FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AFTER GOV SANDERS EXPANDS KEY PROTECTIONSA parked Fort Worth Police car.(Stewart F.
House/Getty Images)In a statement to Fox News Digital last week, the Fort Worth Police Department acknowledged that an officer made "certain statements that were not accurate" during a viral encounter last month with a Christian street preacher outside a Pride festival, while maintaining that the citation he received stemmed from the use of a bullhorn that allegedly violated the city's noise ordinance, not the content of the preacher's speech.Officers responded to a June 27 incident at Trinity Pride Fest after nearby business owners complained that the amplified sound disrupted their operations and drove...