Pipeline Protesters Lose First Amendment Challenge to State Law

Three protesters of a 162.5 mile pipeline cutting through Louisiana lost their challenge to the constitutionality of the critical infrastructure law used to arrest them.

The Bayou Bridge Pipeline cuts through many bodies of water, including sources of drinking water for the surrounding communities, the court said. Anne White Hat, Ramon Mejía, and Karen Savage were arrested during a 2018 protest against the pipeline for being too close to it. They were never prosecuted, the court said.

White Hat and the others sued the Louisiana Attorney General in the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, alleging that ...