Sidewalk Advocates for Life & Kevin Hammer v. City of Detroit

The City of Detroit enacted an ordinance that criminalizes peaceful, life-affirming speech on public sidewalks outside abortion facilities. The law imposes two overlapping restrictions of a fifteen-foot fixed buffer zone around every facility entrance and an eight-foot "floating bubble zone" around every patient, threatening fines and imprisonment for violations. The ordinance is nearly identical to a Pittsburgh ordinance struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Brown v. City of Pittsburgh.

Kevin Hammer, a retired Michigan attorney and certified Sidewalk Advocate, stands on the public sidewalk outside Scotsdale Women's Center holding a sign reading "Ask Me About Free Ultrasounds and Pregnancy Tests" and offering life-affirming literature to women who pass. He does not follow, chase, block, or yell at anyone. Despite this, the abortion facility has repeatedly called police to the scene.

Thomas More Society attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Sidewalk Advocates for Life and Kevin Hammer, challenging the ordinance as an unconstitutional restriction on protected speech.