Cop's right to protect gospel preachers asserted in court
Officer refused order to 'push' Christian evangelists off public college campus
Posted: January 28, 2011
12:55 am Eastern

By Brian Fitzpatrick
© 2011 WorldNetDaily


Photo from Facebook page "Kutztown University Students Against Repent America Demonstrations"

Does a police officer have the right to disobey an order that would cause him to violate the constitutional rights of, say, a Christian open-air preacher at a public university?

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys today argued a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, one step below the Supreme Court, that could establish the legal precedent that police officers have the same right to disobey illegal orders as members of the military.

"Armbruster v. Cavanaugh is an important case," said ADF Senior Counsel Tom Marcelle. "A police officer takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. If he has that obligation, he also has a right to refuse to uphold orders that cause him to violate the very Constitution he is sworn to defend.

"Whether you're talking about the Nazis at Nuremberg or police officers at Kent State, courts have recognized in certain circumstances a police officer has a duty not to obey an unlawful or unconstitutional order. The difference is, at Kent State life was at issue. We argued that life is protected by the Constitution, but liberty is also. An order to deprive someone of liberty is no different from an order to take someone's life," he said.

"If a soldier or a police officer performs in an unlawful way, he can never tell a judge, 'I did this because I was ordered to do it.' Following orders is never a defense. Therefore police officers have a right to disobey orders that are not constitutional and not fear retribution from superiors," he said.



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