Pace: the final frontier, chapter 14 — Windfall for the wingnuts

When last we visited the constitutional clusterfuck that is the Pace (Fla.) school prayer issue, we learned that after securing a remarkably undeserved victory in federal district court, the crazed fundies who populate Santa Rosa County next planned to go after the consent decree itself -- the very agreement the county school district signed wherein they vowed to, you know, obey the U.S. Constitution and not have organized prayer in public schools. Leading this fight, as they did for the three Pace High School administrators cleared of wrongdoing, would be Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, a legal organization (in the loosest sense of the term) made up of fundamentalist whackjobs who actually want nothing whatsoever to do with liberty. Instead, according to their website, they are focused on "restoring the culture one case at a time by advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family," which naturally means intruding into our bedrooms, our classrooms, our bodies, and our very lives to push their special brand of Christianist uniformity. (Obviously their definition of "culture" differs from that of normal people.)

Well, thanks to all those good folks in Pace and elsewhere who ponied up over $73,000 for the administrators' defense, which cost barely more than $8,500*, Liberty Counsel will get the difference:

The Lay-Freeman Defense Fund, headed by Milton insurance agent Robert Smith, raised $73,388 for Lay and Freeman's defense against charges that they violated a court order to discontinue the practice of faculty-led religious activities at school events and on school property.

"From the outset, we told people who contributed that any money left over from the legal defense fund would be donated to Liberty Counsel," Smith said.

[...]

"We're certainly pleased with the donation," Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said on Thursday.

[...]

"There's a lot more activity we will do on this case," he said. "We expect to spend more to prepare for this trial that is coming up."

Liberty Counsel is representing Christian Educators Association International, which is seeking to change the agreement between the ACLU and the School District. A hearing is set for Dec. 2 at the federal courthouse in Pensacola.

Yeah, I'm sure you're pleased with the donation, Mat. Just in time to do more of your nefarious, freedom-hating work, like trying to push Christianist prayer back into public schools or encouraging your deluded followers to pray for a liberal (see logo at right). What a bunch of sick fucks.

But you've definitely got one thing going for you on December 2, Mat: home-court advantage. It's clear the political and personal pressure your followers put on the federal court in Pensacola -- not the law -- won you the earlier decision ... and you're probably going to turn the screws again. So much for freedom.

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* Curiously, the article says $8,908 went to Pensacola attorney Barry Beroset, but according to the same article, $73,388 was raised and $64,840 was donated to Liberty Counsel -- a difference of $8,548. Not sure where the discrepancy comes from ... or whether it really matters. Just an observation ...

Pace: the final frontier, chapter 13 — The show goes on

Sorry, folks. I guess I kind of took the weekend off. It was inadvertent, though, so it's okay -- per the lesson we learned on Thursday in federal court in Pensacola: everything's okay so long as it's accidental. But I digress ....

Fresh off their stunning (and, to my mind, legally questionable) victory in federal court last week, the radical Christianists of Santa Rosa County are taking their Crusade Against the Constitution™ to the very heart of the issue. Next, they're going to try to have the consent decree (PDF) overturned* on the ground that it's unconstitutional.

But now, the nonprofit Liberty Counsel, a legal firm representing the Christian Educators [Association International], says the district went too far in its concessions to the ACLU.

Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, says the agreement fails to draw explicit distinctions between educators in their roles as government agents and their roles as private citizens.

"I think this order is too broad," he said. "When you are dealing with the First Amendment, you have to use a scalpel and a chain saw. You have to be very precise because you risk violating the rights of free speech and the rights of the School District employees."

Christian Educators has filed a motion to participate in the case with the goal of either changing the agreement or scrapping it. On Tuesday, it plans to file its written legal argument to participate.

U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers has scheduled a Dec. 2 and 3 hearing, after which she will decide whether the Christian Educators can take part.

If Rodgers doesn't allow Christian Educators to become a party to the lawsuit, the group plans to sue the School District.

"We're not going away and let this order continue to confuse and confound students and staff," Staver said.

Oh, come on, Mat -- "confound?" Are you saying students and staff in Santa Rosa County are so dumb that they can't comprehend the simple declaratory language of the decree, which explicitly states that there shall be no "promoting, advancing, endorsing, participating in, or causing Prayers during or in conjunction with School Events," where the decree clearly defines "School Events?" You know and I know that private, individual or even small group prayers -- for example, privately saying grace before lunch -- are not prohibited by the consent decree. You just want to stir up more trouble and more publicity for your organization. I mean, you can't even spell "Matt," so why should we trust you about anything?**

Never mind that the U.S. Constitution prohibits governments -- federal, state, and local -- from the establishment of a religion. The whackjob Christianists won't be happy until we're a theocracy -- that, folks, is quite clear and indisputable, Joe Scarborough's hand-wringing tut-tuttery notwithstanding.

So, Judge Rodgers gets another crack at the issue, although her first hearing, in December, is merely about whether the Christian Educators can intervene. I don't really care one way or another whether they are a party to the lawsuit -- hell, the more, the merrier. But the real question is, when the actual merits of constitutionality come before her early next year, will she side with the Constitution or buckle to political pressure again? Stay tuned ....

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* If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here (and scroll past this post) for all the background.

** Yeah, okay, I'm just being silly here.