(JTA) – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear two different requests to take up a suit against a group of protesters who have gathered weekly outside an Ann Arbor synagogue for nearly two decades holding anti-Israel and antisemitic signs, seemingly closing off any remaining legal avenues against the long-running display. The court issued orders in March and May denying petitions brought by two different congregants who had argued that the protests targeted Jews at their place of worship, violating their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion. The plaintiffs belong to two different congregations that both meet in the same synagogue building: Conservative Beth Israel Congregation and the Jewish Renewal-affiliated Pardes Hannah Congregation. Neither congregation was involved in the lawsuits.

The two congregants, one of whom is a Holocaust survivor, had first brought a joint lawsuit against the protesters, the city and Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor in 2019. Lower courts dismissed it on First Amendment grounds, and a judge ordered the plaintiffs to pay the protesters’ legal fees. Following a dispute between one of the plaintiffs, Marvin Gerber, and their attorney, Marc Susselman, the suit was broken up and two separate petitions under two separate attorneys were filed to the Supreme Court.

Main Photo: A protester stands outside Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan, flanked by anti-Israel and antisemitic signs, in 2020. On Jan. 18, 2022, the Ann Arbor City Council formally condemned the weekly protests, which had been going on for 18 years. (Alex Sherman/Jewish Telegraphic Agency)