Global Impact Ministries v. City of Greensboro

Summary

Greensboro, N.C., police arrested several Christians for engaging in peaceful prayer outside an abortion facility, claiming that they were in violation of a Guilford County emergency proclamation related to the coronavirus crisis. Police arrested members of the Christian ministry Love Life because they traveled by car and not by foot and because they traveled from outside the county—prohibitions found nowhere in the proclamation or in any law. The city also claimed that the proclamation gives the city authority to prohibit all First Amendment activity, which is also untrue. Love Life members intentionally and carefully engaged in their activities to comply with the proclamation.