San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Witnesses mark 20th anniversary of ruling on free speech
While Jehovah’s Witnesses have chosen to temporarily suspend their door-todoor ministry due to the pandemic, their activity was almost permanently banned by one U.S. village in the late 1990s — that is until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in with a historic 8-1 decision on June 17, 2002, declaring the local ordinance unconstitutional.
On the 20th anniversary of that precedent-setting decision, some San Antonio residents wondered 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.”
San Antonio resident Robert Rivera remembers grappling with feelings of depression, anger and hopelessness before Jehovah’s Witnesses called at his door. “That knock gave me hope,” he said. “Before that day, life was going downhill fast.”
While helping a fellow motorist whose car broke down, Rivera was struck by a car and lost both legs. Feeling lost after returning home from the hospital, he prayed to God for help. The next morning, Jehovah’s Witnesses came to his door and shared comfort from the Bible. “Now my life has meaning and real happiness,” he said.
Rivera, who became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, continues to engage in a productive ministry through letter writing, phone calls, and virtual visits, but he is looking forward to knocking on doors again.
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