NYCLU's lawsuit against Nassau pits free speech against religious freedom

A federal judge will decide whether a Nassau County law that creates a buffer zone around houses of worship violates the right to free speech following oral arguments Thursday. 

At issue is whether the county's Religious Safety Act — which County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed into law at his January inauguration — is illegal under the First and 14th amendments. 

Blakeman and the bill's lead sponsor, Legis. Mazi Pilip of Great Neck, both Republicans, say the law protects individuals from intimidation and violence when exercising their religious rights. Civil liberties groups and advocates say the purpose of the law is to silence protected speech and could deny residents the right to free expression on public sidewalks and streets. 

Eastern District Judge Sanket J. Bulsara questioned whether the language of the law adequately addresses oral and silent speech as well as clarifications on whether the radius from the entrance is outdoors or indoors.

The lawsuit was filed last month by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two Catholic women who say they have the right to protest anti-immigrant policies and hand out leaflets to fellow parishioners outside churches.

Supporters, including advocates from Planned Parenthood and Gender Equality New York, rallied outside the federal courthouse in Central Islip ahead of the afternoon appearance before Bulsara. 

"Let's be clear: religious freedom is essential and the NYCLU has long fought to safeguard it. But Long Islanders' right to speak about issues of great political importance is no less vital to the right to religious exercise," said JP Perry, a senior staff attorney with NYCLU. 

In Nassau, the law has made protesting within 35 feet of the entrance to a religious institution illegal, upping it to 100 feet an hour before and after scheduled services. Protesters are also barred from coming within 10 feet of an individual without consent when they are entering or exiting at house of worship, among them temples, synagogues, mosques and churches. 

Blakeman said he was confident the county would win in court, and that the motivation for the law was to protect worshippers from attacks that have occurred against synagogues and mosques across the region and nationally.

"The New York Civil Liberties Union should be more concerned with the enforcement of one of the most important principles of our United States Constitution, which is freedom of religion, of which our nation was founded," Blakeman told Newsday at an unrelated news conference on Thursday. "You would think they would be supporting us rather than fighting against us, because this isn't a free-speech issue. There's many opportunities for people to exercise their right to free speech. This is a freedom of religion issue, and so I think they have it completely backwards." 

Similar measures to create buffer zones around houses of worship, endorsed by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, have been enacted or are under consideration in New York City and elsewhere. 

Last month, U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) voiced support of a bipartisan House bill dubbed the SACRED ACT that, under certain circumstances, would carry five-figure fines and prison time for violations.

The buffer zone would be 100 feet around a house of worship and 8 feet around a person going in or out, Newsday previously reported. 

In New York City, the City Council passed a bill that directs the NYPD to develop a perimeter around houses of worship. Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not sign the legislation nor veto it, which eventually allows it to become law.