Arizona evangelist David Hoffman has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Tucson, alleging that festival rules restricting religious expression violated his constitutional rights. The complaint concerns the Winterhaven Festival of Lights, a free annual event held in a residential neighborhood, and asks a judge to allow Hoffman to share his faith at the upcoming festival.
Hoffman has preached at public events for more than a decade, according to the account provided by Fox News. He said his ministry involves speaking with people who might not otherwise attend church. He had attended Winterhaven for nearly 10 years before the dispute described in the lawsuit.
The complaint says the encounter occurred during the December 2025 festival. First Liberty Institute, which represents Hoffman, alleges Tucson had adopted an event solicitation policy the previous year that barred religious, political and issue-based leafleting. Signs at festival entrances reportedly described the restrictions and warned that people violating them could be removed and face trespassing charges.
Hoffman said he was told he could attend to view the lights but could not discuss religion with visitors or hand out religious literature. According to the complaint, an officer said the restriction applied to the message itself, rather than the volume at which Hoffman spoke. The filing also recounts an exchange in which Hoffman asked whether he could answer if a visitor approached him with a question about salvation. The officers allegedly told him he would have to leave the festival perimeter to have that conversation.
After repeated warnings, four uniformed Tucson police officers escorted Hoffman out, according to the complaint. He was not reported to have been arrested. Officers directed him to a designated “free expression zone” outside the event, the filing says. Hoffman described the area as a barricaded corner; First Liberty contends that its location beside a busy street made conversation with festival visitors impractical.
The legal group also alleges that other activities remained permitted inside the event, including food vendors, live performances and pedal-powered party bikes playing amplified music. Those comparisons are part of the plaintiffs’ argument that the policy treated religious expression differently. The complaint alleges violations of the First Amendment’s protections for speech and religious exercise, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and the Arizona Constitution.
First Liberty says it sent Tucson a demand letter in December 2025 challenging the policy and received no response. The lawsuit, filed this week according to the source report, names the city and Tucson police officers Matt Alexander and William Leonard in their individual capacities. It seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions permitting Hoffman to preach at this year’s festival, as well as a court declaration that the policy is unconstitutional.
First Liberty attorney Garrett Bell argued that city streets and sidewalks receive strong constitutional protection and said the policy allows discussion of subjects such as sports while barring religion. Senior counsel Nate Kellum characterized the restrictions as an impermissible ban on religious messages in a public setting. These are claims and arguments by Hoffman’s legal representatives; the court has not ruled on them in the material provided.
Tucson said it does not comment on pending litigation. Tucson police had not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment at the time of that report. The source material does not include a response from the officers named in the complaint or the city’s detailed defense of the policy.
