Wheaton College students sue city for severly hindering First Amendment rights
Four Wheaton College students who were repeatedly stopped from open-air preaching and passing out evangelism literature in Millennium Park are suing the city for allegedly violating their First Amendment rights.
The students — all members of Wheaton College’s Chicago Evangelism Team, an outreach ministry sponsored by the college’s Office of Christian Outreach — announced the lawsuit Wednesday, claiming Millennium Park’s rules “severely hinder First Amendment rights for all within a public forum.”
“Although an outdoor park is the quintessential public forum, the city’s rules purportedly transform the outdoor public park into a novel spatial concept with various ‘rooms’ that prohibit freedom of speech,” the complaint states....