Juan Lobato: 2022 marks the 20-years for Supreme Court decision Watchtower v. Stratton

Juan Lobato

While Jehovah’s Witnesses have chosen to temporarily suspend their door-to-door ministry due to the  pandemic, their activity was almost permanently banned by one U.S. village in the late 1990s — that is until  the United States Supreme Court stepped in with a historic 8-1 decision on June 17, 2002, declaring the local  ordinance unconstitutional. 

As the 20th anniversary of that precedent-setting decision nears, some Westminster residents wonder what  their lives would be like if one of their neighbors had not knocked on their door and shared a life-changing  message with them. Constitutional scholars marvel at the outsized impact the decision has had on the  protection of free speech for all, agreeing with Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion in the case, “The free-speech  claim exempts everybody, thanks to Jehovah’s Witnesses.” 

 “Without having come to know Jehovah, my wife and I would be in the dark,” said Karl Frank, who was  contacted in the door-to-door ministry in 2010. “Jehovah has truly saved us.” 

The 2002 Supreme Court decision in Watchtower v. Village of Stratton, affirmed that a local village ordinance  in Stratton, Ohio, requiring a permit to knock on doors violated the rights of any person who wanted to engage  in free speech with their neighbor, including Jehovah’s Witnesses who practice door-to-door evangelizing.  The Court overturned two lower court rulings that upheld the ordinance, and thus paved the way for all  

citizens to maintain open dialogue with their neighbors on any number of issues including environmental,  civic, political or educational. 

“Looking back on the two decades since the decision, it’s clear to see the wide-ranging impact that Watchtower  v. Stratton has had on free speech for all,” said Josh McDaniel, director of the Religious Freedom Clinic at the  Harvard Law School. “This is just the latest of some 50 Supreme Court victories by Jehovah’s Witnesses that  have helped establish and broaden First Amendment jurisprudence throughout the last century.” 

The Village of Stratton became a center of controversy in 1998 after the mayor personally confronted four  Jehovah’s Witnesses as they were driving out of the village after visiting a resident. Subsequently, the village  enacted the ordinance “Regulating Uninvited Peddling and Solicitation Upon Private Property,” which required  anyone wishing to engage in door-to-door activity to obtain a permit from the mayor or face imprisonment.  Jehovah’s Witnesses viewed this ordinance as an infringement of freedom of speech, free exercise of religion  and freedom of press. Therefore, they brought a lawsuit in federal court after the village refused to modify  their enforcement of this ordinance. 

“Our motive for initiating the case was clear: We wanted to remove any obstacle that would prevent us from  carrying out our scriptural obligation to preach the good news of the Kingdom,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S.  spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “Making it a criminal offense to talk with a neighbor without seeking  government approval is offensive to many people, but particularly to God who commanded Christians to  preach the gospel.” 

While the Frank family continues to engage in a productive ministry through letter writing, phone calling and  virtual visits, they are looking forward to knocking on doors again. 

“We are thankful that we have the legal right to practice our ministry from door-to-door,” said Hendriks. “When  the time is right and conditions are safe, we hope to visit our neighbors in person once again.” 

This victory is one of more than 250 rulings in cases brought by Jehovah’s Witnesses in high courts  around the world that have expanded the rights of people of all religious faiths. “It’s hard to point to any  organization, let alone a religious organization, that has had such a profound impact on the shaping  of constitutional law over many decades in the Supreme Court,” said Harvard’s professor McDaniel. 

For more information on the Stratton case, go to www.jw.org and type Stratton in the search field.