Court refuses appeal in Arab-American festival dispute

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a court ruling that found police in Michigan violated the rights of Christian activists who were ordered to leave an Arab-American festival in suburban Detroit.

The justices did not comment in rejecting an appeal from Wayne County.

The federal appeals court in Cincinnati held that police violated the free-speech rights of members of the Bible Believers group.

They showed up at the festival in 2012 carrying a pig’s head and telling Muslims they would “burn in hell.”

Wayne County sheriff’s deputies told them to leave or be ticketed after the evangelists were pelted with rocks.