Supreme Court Denies Cert. In Church Resistance To Subpoenas

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday denied certiorari in two cases involving attempts by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles to quash grand jury subpoenas for personnel records of two former priests who were being investigated for molesting minors. The cases are Roman Catholic Archbishop v. Superior Court of California (05-1017) and Does 1 and 2 v. Superior Court of California (05-1039), cert. denied, April 17, 2006. According to yesterday's New York Times, the Church had argued that the subpoena "inherently entangles the state in the internal religious life of churches and intrudes into religious practice." The California Court of Appeal, in a lengthy opinion, had upheld the subpoena. (See prior posting.) Today's Los Angeles Times also covers the case.