Plano, TX- Today, a demand letter was sent by Liberty Legal Institute (LLI), on behalf of Janice Colston, to the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) asking them to comply with the law and allow for the distribution of constitutionally protected materials on public sidewalks. Colston claims that her constitutional rights have been violated.
“Government officials can’t censor the speech of citizens because it is religious. Religious censorship is not the law. It is against the law,” said Kelly Shackelford, Chief Counsel with Liberty Legal Institute.
“Ms. Colston has a clear constitutional right to stand on a public sidewalk and distribute Christian literature,” said Dean Malone, lead attorney on the case.
In the fall of 2003, Colston and one other individual attempted to pass out religious literature on public sidewalks in front of several FWISD middle and high schools. While doing so, they were told by policemen and school officials to stop distributing materials. As Colston was inquiring about the FWISD policies on the distribution of literature, she was told that the school district prohibits the distribution of pamphlets containing religious and objectionable literature.
“It is unbelievable that this school district puts religious literature in the same category with pornography,” said Hiram Sasser, Director of Litigation with Liberty Legal Institute.