Litigant's Free Exercise Claim Against State Judges Is Moot

In Donkers v. Simon, (6th Cir., April 6, 2006), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge by a state court litigant in Michigan who claimed that her free exercise rights were infringed when a state court judge insisted that she rise when he entered and exited the court room. Plaintiff Catherine Donkers claimed that rising for the judge violated her sincerely-held religious beliefs. As a result of Donker's suit in federal court raising this claim and seeking a declaratory judgment and injunction against the state judges, all the judges in the state judicial district disqualified themselves and her case was reassigned to a neighboring county. The 6th Circuit held that this mooted her claim for injunctive and declaratory relief.