FLDS Church Loses Attempt To Keep Seized Documents Secret

A federal district court in Colorado has rejected an attempt by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to obtain a return to it of "religious" documents seized in connection with the prosecution of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. In United States v. Jeffs , 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19358 (D. Colo., April 4, 2006), the court also refused to issue a protective order prohibiting public disclosure of the documents. The FLDS Church had argued that their public disclosure would impinge on its free exercise of religion. However, the court characterized this claim as "somewhat inexplicit and wholly unsupported", holding that merely calling the documents "sacred" is not enough to justify a protective order. (See prior related posting.)