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Problem is he was not arrested for praying outside a Planned Parenthood facility. He was ticketed for ignoring the shelter in place law.

If he had stopped to pray while entering the facility for medical assistance, which they do actually do, he would have been fine. But when he was found to be outside of his abode not enroute or returning from an essential need, he violated the law.

The first point to note is that the Bay Area order doesn’t — at present — contain any criminal sanction for violation. As of March 17, and nothing but a warning on March 27, it is, in effect, firm guidance rather than government command backed by the threat of criminal penalties. Some European countries are imposing monetary fines for breaking such orders. The San Francisco order doesn’t do that. So the line that said....requires him to appear in court on criminal charges later this month, is manure. There are none attached to the sheltr law.

They can get him for nuisance based on a 2010 law voted in by the people for another reason. Generally the punishment is up to 6 months in jail and/or $1000 fine. But it is not tied into the shelter law and I seriously doubt they would do anything in a high profile situation like this. They’ll make a deal.

The order does “request” that the police “ensure compliance with and enforce this order.” And it declares that violation of the order “constitutes an immediate threat and creates an immediate menace to public health.” But if the police chose to arrest violators, this language would probably not be enough to sustain a criminal conviction. The order is simply too vague, and the punishment for constituting a threat or a public health menace would have to come from some existing statute or ordinance. And it would be a real stretch with the criminality not being determined in the original order.

rwood