Ohio Law Requiring Flashing Lights on Amish Buggies Put on Hold After Harvard Law Clinic Challenge

Ohio’s requirement that an Amish community attach flashing electric lights to its horse-drawn buggies is now on hold, following an early court win that students from Harvard Law School helped secure. The students are members of the school’s Religious Freedom Clinic, and they represented the Swartzentruber Amish community in a challenge to the state law.

The group traveled to rural Kenton, Ohio, in November. Students Cole Cooper, Mason Laney, Jack Lucas and Gabrielle Spurlock argued at a preliminary injunction hearing on behalf of the Swartzentrubers. They were joined by Steven Burnett, an instructional fellow at the clinic, and Assistant Clinical Professor Josh McDaniel, the clinic’s director. The students argued that the light law was irreparably harming the Swartzentrubers by burdening their religious rights, and they asked the court to block enforcement while the litigation proceeds.

The case reached the clinic last year through Dr. Cory Anderson, a local Amish and Mennonite scholar who acted as an intermediary between the clinic and the Swartzentrubers. The Swartzentruber sect is one of the most conservative Amish communities, and its members do not use cars, phones or nearly any modern technology. The source states that the community’s faith opposes aggression, which for its members often includes litigation, but that they are permitted to accept pro bono legal help to challenge a law they believe infringes on their religious exercise.

The law at issue was enacted in 2022 and requires yellow flashing lights on buggies at all times. The source reports that for decades Ohio had allowed the Swartzentrubers to use oil lamps and reflective tape as an alternative to electric lights. Advocates of the new regulation argue that electric lights should be mandatory to improve road safety and prevent crashes. The clinic’s involvement follows rising tension between local law enforcement and the Swartzentruber Amish over the requirement.

Spurlock described the effects on the community. “At least four people have been jailed because they have a religious objection to paying fines for tickets related to their religious practices. Someone else’s buggy has been towed,” she said. She also said that in meetings the day before the hearing, the students learned that some people were choosing to walk rather than use their buggies, and that people were walking on major highways, which she called more dangerous than riding a buggy without a flashing light.

Cooper said the team’s legal strategy focused on Ohio’s constitution, which he described as providing strong protections for freedom of conscience. “The first step is establishing that strict scrutiny is the right analysis to apply to the law at issue,” he said. The second part of the argument, Cooper said, pointed to alternatives. “Ohio’s Department of Transportation identified 13 other ways to make Amish travel safer, none of which required the flashing light that goes against the Swartzentrubers’ sincere religious conviction.” He listed options including buggy lanes, buggy-detection lights on the roads, and broader systemic changes.

The students acknowledged that the case was not straightforward. Laney said many people were initially reluctant to take it because the regulation “felt like a very sensible regulation on its face,” noting that the buggies are black, fairly wide and often take up considerable space on roads not designed for them. According to the students, however, the data pointed elsewhere. Laney said, “accidents are primarily caused by recklessness in cars,” and Spurlock said there is little data showing that flashing lights improve safety, adding that such lights may draw other cars toward them, a effect she called the “moth effect.”

The students and instructors prepared for months on campus before arriving in Ohio. The Swartzentrubers first welcomed them with a meal in the home of a community member, and Spurlock recalled, “We had dinner with them by light from an oil lamp, and it was so peaceful. We got to see the cohesion of their community, and it was amazing to be welcomed into their homes. We made every effort to be as considerate as possible with their customs and show them that we really believe in their cause.” Cooper said the community was “incredibly hospitable and generous,” adding, “We spent hours with them over dinner, getting them up to speed on recent developments with the case. We got everyone’s perspective on the light law and how it had been impacting them.” The welcome, the students said, was a model of hospitality offered to strangers (Matthew 25:35).

Source: Read the original report