Newsday: Suozzi bill would create buffer zones for protests at places of worship

A U.S. House and Senate quartet led by Long Island Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi and Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz say they’ve agreed on language for a bill to create buffer zones around houses of worship during religious services.

To be introduced Thursday, the Right to Worship Act — like a measure introduced by Suozzi in April — would establish a 100-foot federal perimeter around religious institutions and also make it a federal crime to knowingly intimidate, obstruct or harass people exercising their right to worship. It also creates a schedule of civil fines for violations that increases with each offense.

Such buffer zones aiming to limit protests near religious institutions have been the subject of debate across the country, including both Long Island counties and New York City. Backers often note intensifying hate crimes, antisemitism and Islamophobia during the Israel-Hamas war.

Protests outside some synagogues, for instance, have caused intimidation or other emotional and psychological disturbances for some participants in religious or funeral services. Still other types of incidents have included ICE protesters earlier this year disrupting a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, chanting "ICE out" over the killing of Renee Good.

"Exercising your right to worship should not require you to exhibit particular courage as you enter your synagogue, church, mosque, temple, mandir or gurdwara," Suozzi said in a statement.

Unlike Suozzi’s stalled earlier bill co-sponsored with now-embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), this new bill has a version in the Senate being sponsored by Cruz — a prominent and senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) — a potential 2028 Democratic presidential aspirant — is the lead sponsor from her party.

"The First Amendment guarantees every American the right to freely exercise their faith, and Congress has a duty to ensure that guarantee is met," Cruz said in a statement Thursday.

In the House, Judiciary Committee Republican Rep. Brad Knott (R-N.C.) is the GOP sponsor leading the effort at passage. Said Knott, "The Right to Worship Act protects peaceful speech while restoring essential protections for Americans by empowering worshippers against those who seek to intimidate them."

Some civil liberties groups and other critics — who have not yet analyzed this bill — have argued against such zones, saying they infringe upon constitutional free speech and public assembly rights, even when peaceful.

In June, for instance, a federal judge sided with free speech advocates in temporarily blocking Nassau County from enforcing a new law that creates a protest buffer zone around houses of worship, court papers show.

The decision to grant a preliminary injunction was an early win for the New York Civil Liberties Union in its case against County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the legislature over the "Religious Safety Act," a bipartisan bill passed last December designed to protect those entering and exiting houses of worship from harassment.

Suozzi and the other sponsors believe the new legislation — given bipartisan support in both houses of Congress — has a pathway to passage by the end of the year.

The Right to Worship Act already has endorsements from an array of groups, say its sponsors, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Islamic Society of North America and the Hindu American Foundation.

The bill is far from a slam-dunk, as the two-year legislative session moves toward full-on midterm election season, to be followed then by a lame-duck Congress until January. The House is currently away from Washington for its August recess, and the Senate is soon to break.