Bill Description: House Bill 571 would clarify that maliciously and willfully disrupting a religious gathering is a violation of Idaho section 18-6409, disturbing the peace.
Rating: +1
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
House Bill 571 would clarify that a misdemeanor charge may be levied against any person who “maliciously and willfully disturbs, disquiets, or delays any assemblage of people gathered for religious worship…” at a place of worship or any other off-site location used for the same purpose. The First Amendment protects the right of all American and Idahoans to worship God free from any harassment or persecution. This law would enhance that protection against protestors and others who seek to willfully and maliciously obstruct or disrupt a religious proceeding and thereby abridge citizen’s First Amendment rights.
The First Amendment also protects the right of the public to peacefully protest for the redress of grievances. The Idaho Constitution, Article One, Section 10 states: “Right of assembly. The people shall have the right to assemble in a peaceable manner, to consult for their common good; to instruct their representatives, and to petition the legislature for the redress of grievances.” However, this right does not and cannot extend to the disruption of a worship service or event on the private property of a religious organization. There is no protected right to harass, disturb, or disrupt such a gathering and to do so would gravely infringe upon not only the First Amendment but the very idea of free private association. Protest is not a license to abrogate property rights and religious freedom.
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