Today, the court granted the Center’s client, St. Herman’s Table, a temporary restraining order (TRO) in its lawsuit against the City of Phoenix and forbade the city from enforcing the ordinance against St. Herman’s Table and its volunteers through June 24. This means St. Herman’s volunteers can continue to feed the homeless in Cave Creek Park until June 24 with the threat of arrest. In the order, the court concluded that St. Herman’s Table is likely to prevail on the merits of its First Amendment free exercise claim. In addition, the court ordered the parties to confer and respond by June 15 whether a permanent injunction can be determined at the same time as a preliminary injunction. The Center had filed the complaint on behalf of St. Herman’s Table, along with requests for a preliminary injunction and the TRO about a week earlier, alleging the city’s new ordinance violated the First Amendment rights of St. Herman’s and it volunteers, specifically by making criminals out of these religiously motivated volunteers for serving those in need.
