Facts of The Case
No town ordinance prohibited or regulated the use of a public park in Havre de Grace, though it had been the town's custom over the years to issue permits to civic groups that wanted to use it for various purposes. The Jehovah's Witnesses requested permission from the city's Park Commissioner to use it, but were told that another group had signed up for that particular Sunday. Undeterred, they requested other Sundays but were turned down after a hearing by the City Council. At the hearing, the Council members asked them questions about their views of Roman Catholics, their refusal to salute the American flag and other subjects not related to the use of a permit. After the hearing, their request was turned down. Nevertheless, the Witnesses went ahead and held their public meetings in the park, with Niemetko, their preacher, being arrested in 1949. He was arrested under a disorderly conduct statute, though there was no evidence, at the time of arrest, that disorder, threats of riot or other violence impended.
Read more about this topic: Niemotko V. Maryland
Famous quotes containing the words facts and/or case:
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A woman’s whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world: it is there her ambition strives for empire; it is there her avarice seeks for hidden treasures. She sends forth her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her whole soul on the traffic of affection; and if shipwrecked, her case is hopeless—for it is a bankruptcy of the heart.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)