07/08/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/08/2025 19:09
Emily Bosch emily.bosch@sierraclub.org
BOISE, IDAHO --Today the Boise City Council voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the City's noise ordinance as part of a settlementwith the Sierra Club, represented by Wrest Collective, resolving a lawsuitover an outdated city statute that violated the First Amendment.
"This is a win for free speech and a win for all Boiseans who want to practice their constitutionally protected rights," said Lisa Young, Director of Idaho Sierra Club."Our nation is experiencing a historic attack on our civil liberties. Protecting people's ability to express disagreement publicly and peacefully without fear of reprisal or arrest is the only way to maintain a healthy democracy."
Under the settlement, the City of Boise agreed to:
Boise City Code § 5-7-3 was a decades-old ordinance that restricted the use of loudspeakers and megaphones in public spaces. In recent years, Boise Police began citing that ordinance to ticket and arrest protestors who were using megaphones, and the City unsuccessfully defended those actions in court. Ty Werenka was ticketedwhile participating in a Black Lives Matter protest in Boise after the police killing of Daunte Wright in 2021. Since then, Boise Police have ticketed and violently arrested other peaceful protesters because they used megaphones.
The Idaho Sierra Club and its youth group, the Idaho Climate Justice League, began to limit their protests out of fear of legal trouble or arrest. Sierra Club sued the City in April 2024 for limiting their constitutional freedoms and partnered with Wrest Collective (a community-driven sliding scale law firm based in Boise) on the lawsuit. A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in April 2024, ruling that Boise's ordinance was likely unconstitutional. The parties then spent a year in litigation and eventually worked toward a settlement, which was finalized in May 2025.
"We're grateful that the City finally changed this law, the lawsuit is over, and we and our friends can go back to doing what we've always had every right to do: using a megaphone to speak up on important issues impacting our communities," said Nikita & Nicholas Thomas, twins who were students at Boise High School last year when they helped submit the lawsuit with Idaho Sierra Club's Climate Justice League youth group.
Additional statements from impacted community organizations and members:
"It's frustrating that our rights seem to only exist if we engage in lengthy, expensive legal battles to protect them," said Werenka."I'm grateful the Wrest Collective got the City to change this ordinance, but this whole lawsuit just goes to show that the City has been repeatedly trying to stifle even the smallest forms of dissent and isn't upholding its own vision to 'Create a City for Everyone.' We need these legal changes, but we also need justice, accountability, and follow-through."
"I'll feel a little more confident when using a megaphone at protests now, and when doing protests in parks, but still worry that police will find other ways to try to shut down our events," said Brielle Bruns, local organizer for the People's Liberated University for a Free Palestine."We've experienced a lot of unprovoked harassment from police over the years. I hope the City of Boise and its Police Department take more accountability for that and the impact it's had on local groups who simply want to express free speech."
"I want an apology from the City," said Ashlee Worle, local organizer with Idaho Abortion Rights who was arrestedfor using a megaphone at a protest in 2023. "It was horrible. It was clearly suppression based on the content of our speeches rather than actual noise concerns. The City has been in the wrong for years, and I hope this is the start of right-ing those wrongs."
"This is a critical time in our nation for people to voice dissent and speak up against the many forms of injustice we see and experience," said Morrighan Nyx, local organizer with the Party for Socialism & Liberation who was also ticketed for using a megaphone at a protest in 2023. "I hope this change in the law helps encourage more people to come out and make their voices heard without fear of retaliation from the police and the state. People know that change comes about when people are out in the thousands, millions, etc. That's exactly what these types of laws aim to discourage."
Idaho Sierra Club says it will be watching closely to see how the City and police implement these changes moving forward, and will continue to advocate for fair and constitutional protections for all protesters in Boise.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.