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California Family Minute

August 19, 2010

It’s Okay to Talk to Strangers!

by Rebecca Burgoyne,
CFC Research Analyst

Courts Vindicate Free Speech in California Cases

Parents admonish children not to talk to strangers for their own protection, but the “don’t talk to strangers” rule of a Northern California Mall has been declared unconstitutional, and the right of a Merced school student to wear a T-shirt with a pro-life message has been protected.  

Roseville, California
Youth pastor Matthew Snatchko often went to the Galleria, the largest shopping mall in northern California, where he would openly share his faith. In a common area, one evening, after receiving permission from other shoppers, he discussed his faith with them. Overhearing his conversation, a store employee summoned a security guard who placed Snatchko under citizen’s arrest. The Galleria, it seems, had guidelines prohibiting speech unrelated to mall business between strangers. 

While the Placer County District Attorney determined Snatchko was “factually innocent” and a superior court formally found him innocent, the ruling did not create in law a precedent that could be relied on to protect others. Snatchko, with the aid of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), filed suit against the owners of the mall – Westfield Group – to prevent future incidents of this kind in any of Westfield’s 55 locations nationwide. A Placer County court, determining the policy was viewpoint neutral and therefore permitted, ruled in favor of the mall. 

A three-judge panel in California’s Third District Court of Appeal, which ruled earlier this week, then heard an appeal. Writing for the unanimous overturning of the lower court’s decision, Associate Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye – the governor’s recent nominee to the state Supreme Court – opined, “the rules allow conversations between strangers on matters related to the Galleria . . . while prohibiting peaceful, consensual, spontaneous conversations between strangers in common areas of the mall on topics unrelated to the . . . mall.” PJI attorney Matthew McReynolds hailed the decision as “ a huge victory for free speech and common sense.” 

Merced, California
On National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day, sixth-grader Tiffany Amador wore a pro-life T-shirt – as she often did – to McSwain Union Elementary School. But on April 29, 2008, Amador was humiliated and pulled from class, and told to change her shirt. The shirt – which bore two clear images of babies developing in the womb followed by a blacked-out square, and captioned “Abortion: Growing, growing, gone” – was deemed “inappropriate subject matter” by the school. 

Last Wednesday – before the case even went to trial – a federal judge entered a judgment against the school and three school officials. Attorney William J. Becker, representing the student, said, “ Student speech at all grade levels is protected by the First Amendment. With few exceptions, such as profanity and lewdness, the Constitution prohibits school officials from picking and choosing what messages they find acceptable and what messages they find unacceptable.” 

From its earliest days, America has prized freedom – especially in matters of religion and speech. Pilgrims emigrated from Europe seeking a place where they could practice their religion free from government interference. Patriots earned their freedom from Great Britain with blood, sweat, and endurance. Our early forefathers cut their teeth on the writings on liberty from Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry, and citizens have protected foundational rights in the courts and legislatures. Enshrined in the Bill of Rights is the First Amendment to the Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an established religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

These days, when it often seems our freedoms are being limited and attacked in a culture war where the politically correct seems to win – as judges, politicians, and educrats negate the right of assembly of a Christian campus organization, exchange freedom of religion for freedom of worship, and lambast supporters of Proposition 8 as biased, archaic, and hurtful – it’s nice to have some victories to remind us what is true. 

Glimmers of hope shone through with these two First Amendment victories in the Golden State. They serve as reminders of our hard-fought freedoms – freedoms that will evaporate should we let them. An awareness seems to be on the rise of the need to protect the biblical worldview and liberties upon which our nation was first founded. “The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilante, the active, the brave,” said Patrick Henry. Patriot Thomas Paine agreed. “’Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
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