As a Christian, David Hoffman sincerely believes that it is his mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hoffman has been evangelizing since 2015, sharing his religious beliefs with others through preaching, personal conversations, and the distribution of religious literature. He also founded a nonprofit dedicated to spreading the Gospel across the country. On December 13, 2025, Hoffman and his friends visited the Winterhaven Festival of Lights in Tucson, Arizona, where they continued this mission by sharing their Christian beliefs in hopes of positively changing people’s lives. For approximately 10 years Hoffman had been attending and evangelizing at this festival. The festival itself is a public event, free of charge and available for anyone to attend. It is situated on public streets and it winds through the neighborhood of Winterhaven located in northwest Tucson. Every year, thousands of visitors walk through the neighborhood and enjoy the Christmas light displays. Vendors offer food and drinks and homes play amplified music and host live performances. As during the rest of the year, the neighborhood is not closed off to the general public during the festival. The musical performances and entertainment inside the festival are authorized by the organizers. The permit, however, which was given to the organizers of the festival by the City of Tucson, allows the organizers to exclude anyone for any reason.
At the festival Hoffman and his friends were spreading the message of Christ in the open public street when the police warned them to stop. The police stated that what they were doing was in violation of the festival’s solicitation policy. Specifically, the policy prohibits all “political, religious, or commercial materials or messaging” (3, p. 9). When Hoffman inquired what the problem was, Officer Leondardo stated that it wasn’t the noise, but Hoffman’s asking “someone if they’d like to discuss Jesus” (3, p. 12).The officer stated that this was a form of sermonizing, which was against the rules. Hoffman was then threatened with arrest and he and his group were sent to a barricaded zone outside of the festival area known as a Free Expansion Zone.
Following this event, First Liberty, who represents Hoffman, sent a demand letter to the city of Tucson. When the city did not respond, Hoffman sued the city in Federal Court in 2026. The key constitutional question I am examining is whether the City of Tucson’s prevention of David Hoffman and his group from evangelizing the Gospel of Jesus Christ violates their right to the “free exercise of religion” under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
In determining whether the City of Tucson’s actions of excluding Hoffman violated the First Amendment, we must answer the following questions: First, was the policy that prohibited religious exercise neutral or generally applicable? Second, if it was not, does the policy serve a compelling or very important government interest? According to the complaint in Hoffman v. City of Tucson, the festival had a city approved event safety plan, which was cited as a justification for the designated Free Expression Zone. This way they could ensure safety, enjoyment, and accessibility for attendees at the festival (3, p. 10).
A case that sets precedent is Widmar v. Vincent. In the Vincent case, a group of evangelical Christian students were denied access to their public university’s facilities. These facilities were made generally available to student groups to encourage student organization activities. After challenging their right to access the public university’s facilities in a manner that other groups were allowed access, the Court concluded in a 8 to 1 decision that the university’s regulation limiting access did not serve a compelling state interest. It was not neutral in its application and was not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. The religious group’s “incidental” benefit from access to university facilities was not the same thing as the university helping to advance the religion (4). It was simply a matter of being neutral. If all other student groups could utilize these resources, the evangelical Christian students should have had the same access. Therefore the university was found in violation of the First Amendment.
Connecting this to the case at hand, while the City of Tucson has not cited the Establishment Clause in its reasoning, or even made an official statement regarding the lawsuit, granting Hoffman and his group access to the public forum like a public street would not necessarily amount to government advancement of religion. Instead, it would be a matter of treating religious expression equally.
I believe that with the permit, the City is empowering the festival organizers to exclude people because of their speech or practices. The government imposed non-neutral policies, allowing non-religious messages to be spread but preventing religious ones. There is also no compelling state interest that justifies the exclusion of religious messaging. The safety of the public is not in jeopardy and while some may experience less enjoyment, that is not a justified cause to intervene.
The policy was also not narrowly tailored in pursuit of the City’s interest in safety. There is no reason to single out religious messaging because of concerns over harassment or overcrowding in certain areas. These are public streets in an open festival and Hoffman has a First Amendment right to exercise his religion by spreading the message of Christianity. For Hoffman, spreading the Gospel is not just a form of speech, but key to practicing his faith, so preventing him from evangelizing restricts his ability to exercise his religion.
When the city enforced this policy and removed Hoffman and his friends, it burdened this right in a non-neutral fashion. Furthermore, this was not the least restrictive way of protecting the government’s interest in safety, enjoyment, and accessibility. The City cannot just prohibit anyone from preaching Christianity, that is not narrowly tailored. Instead, it could prohibit anyone, regardless of their message, from obstructing sidewalks or creating big crowds. There is also nothing narrowly tailored about giving the festival organizers power to exclude citizens on any basis. To this day, the city’s actions continue to deter Hoffman from exercising his religion.
1 comment:
I agree that the City of Tucson violated Hoffman's rights by preventing him from sharing his religious beliefs in a public space. I think it is important that the festival took place on public streets and that other forms of entertainment and expression were allowed. I also don't think discussing religion with others creates a safety concern. I agree with your point that the city could have enforced rules against blocking sidewalks or disrupting the festival rather than restricting religious expression. Religious speech should be treated equally to other forms of speech in public spaces.
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