... [T]he Town’s legally erroneous “concerns” about Establishment Clause liability turn First Amendment jurisprudence on its head: the First Amendment prohibits the content-based and viewpoint-based restrictions on protected speech that the Town seeks to permit and permits religious worship services the equal access to government facilities that the Town seeks to prohibit.Charleston Post and Courier reports on developments.
Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Thursday, November 22, 2018
DOJ Files Statement of Interest In Church's Challenge To Limits On Use of Civic Center
As previously reported, in August a suit was filed in a South Carolina federal district court against Edisto Beach challenging the Town's rule change that prohibits renting space in the town's Civic Center for religious worship services. Now the lawsuit has attracted the attention of the Justice Department. On Tuesday, DOJ filed a Statement of Interest (full text) in Redeemer Fellowship of Edisto Island v. Town of Edisto Beach, South Carolina, arguing in part:
Labels:
Establishment Clause,
Free exercise,
South Carolina