Posted on 10/16/2014 7:39:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Quelle surprise. After news of their subpoenas for sermons given by religious leaders went viral yesterday, Houston’s mayor and city attorney backpedaled away from its “wording,” although the city attorney initially attempted to defend the demand. Later, he shifted the blame to outside legal representation:
Amid outrage from religious groups, Mayor Annise Parker and City Attorney David Feldman on Wednesday appeared to back off a subpoena request for the sermons of certain ministers opposed to the city’s equal rights ordinance, with Parker calling it overly broad.
The subpoenas, handed down to five pastors and religious leaders last month, came to light this week when attorneys for the group of pastors filed a motion to quash the request. Though Feldman stood behind the subpoena in an interview Tuesday, he and Parker said during the Mayor’s weekly press conference Wednesday that the wording was problematic.
The wording was the issue? Not the fact that the subpoena demanded sermons that had nothing directly to do with the petition process, such as their thoughts on “gender identity” and homosexuality? That’s their new line, and they’re sticking to it:
Feldman is monitoring the case, he said, but had not seen the subpoena written by outside counsel working pro-bono for the city until this week. Parker said she also did not know about the request until this week.
“There’s no question the wording was overly broad,” she said. “But I also think there was some misinterpretation on the other side.”
Parker wants to remind everyone of who the victim in this episode really is:
“Let me just say that one word in a very long legal document which I know nothing about and would never have read and I’m vilified coast to coast,” Parker said.
Bear in mind that the subpoenas specified that the ministers would have to turn over any sermon that mentioned Parker in them, and it puts this victimization claim in its proper perspective. It’s a form of lèse majeste by insinuation, making it plain that any criticism of the mayor might result in legal action. In other words, nice pulpit ya got there … hope nuttin’ happens to it.
Eugene Volokh notes correctly that sermons can in fact be subpoenaed, but the demand has to be narrowly tailored to the state or court interest involved, which clearly was not the case in Houston:
Say, for instance, that someone sues, claiming that a minister slandered him in a sermon, for instance urging people not to patronize his business because he was supposedly guilty of a crime (a falsehood, it turns out). If the allegations were factual claims, not theological judgments, and especially if the plaintiff wasn’t a member of the congregation, that may well be slander. (It might be slander even if the target is a member of the congregation, but there’s some lower court disagreement on that.) It seems to me that the plaintiff may subpoena the text of the sermon, or, better yet, a recording that the minister made of the sermon, as evidence of what the minister said, or of what he knew at the time he said it. …
But all this presupposes that the information in the subpoenaed sermons really is substantially relevant to a case or an investigation. I don’t quite see how “all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession” would be relevant to the litigation about the validity of the referendum petitions.
At the very least, the subpoena seems vastly overbroad. And the fact that it seeks the contents of religious speeches does counsel in favor of making the subpoena as narrow as possible (which would likewise be the case if it sought the contents of political speeches). I’m not sure what sort of legally relevant information might be contained in the subpoenaed sermons. But the subpoena ought to be narrowed to that legally relevant information, not to all things about homosexuality, gender identity, the mayor, or even the petition or the ordinance.
This demand was intended to send a message to the dissenters. When that backfired, the city backpedaled and claimed they were the victims, but that’s nonsense — and it still reveals exactly what Houston has in mind with its equal-rights ordinance.
I think we are just fine with Houston’s radical mayor showing her true colors (besides the rainbow, that is).
Yes and now its time for Houston to man-up,not les’ey up and vote for a recall.The issue is intent,she tried it and it failed.
Maybe their sermons are free speech and you need to be removed from office because it’s obvious you are using your official capacity to infringe on the constitutional rights of others to intimidate them into silence about your own perversion.
So bitch is vilified - fine - she deserves to be vilified.
Mayor Annise Parker Needs a Bible. Will You Send Her One?
I figure, if they want the sermons, what better source, then THE SOURCE!
I think the better response by the ministers would have been...Jesus would have invited all lost souls to come into his church and hear his word....so we won’t provide you a paper copy of our Sunday sermon, but you can come and worship with us....hearing the word for yourself.
At that point, the poker game would have ended.
I should also point this out....most ministers from the 1940s and 1950s....had a scrap piece of paper with two or three quotes and made up the thirty minute sermon from actual Bible knowledge and where the enthusiasm was taking them. They would have laughed if some guy asked for a copy of the Sunday sermon...there simply wasn’t one.
Anyone else notice a bit of a puzzle in this statement:
“Feldman is monitoring the case, he said, but had not seen the subpoena written by outside counsel working pro-bono for the city until this week. “
They used an outside attorney and one who was working pro-bono??? Why was an outside attorney working for free to make a subpoena for the city. Maybe someone who actually works for a gay-rights organization which offered their services to achieve their own aims.
Ok freepers, I think this might be worth checking out—who prepared the subpoena and why weren’t they paid???
So why does the government get to sermonize any idea and force it down the throat of others but not accept any criticism of violations of the peoples rights?
Hey ugly a$$ carpet muncher subpoena this!
Someone should subpoena her emails on the basis that she is targeting Christian organizations.
The lawyers did pro bono in order to secute work on future bond issues. The bond issues are quite lucrative for a lawfirm.
Search shows no MSM coverage apart from Fox.
If this is not an Ethical Violation worthy of permanent disbarment what is??
If this is not an attempted Extortion of these Pastors what is?? (threatening CRIMINAL ACTION in a Civil Matter) the very act of the subpoena demonstrates this in spades
If this is not a Blatant Deprivation of Rights case what is??
Has the Attorney General Launched an investigation into the unethical and possible criminal behavior of these lawyers involved for political purposes??
WHY NOT??
You get what you vote for as well as the employees that go along with the results.
Someone once said “If you were arrested for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
One particular pastor in Houston (according to sermons I have heard on TV) would never be arrested. Going along to get along just isn’t scriptural!
“...and I’m vilified coast to coast”, Parker said.
So now the bull dyke whips out the victim card. In SF & other liberal horror shows, butch lezzies have been known to invade churches whose message they didn’t like.
Will these five pastors soon be visited by Dykes on Bikes?
My question is, Why only 5 pastors?
He is "monitoring the case" but not reviewing the documents being filed on behalf of the city by an unpaid outside party!
It is becoming obvious that the MSM is being run by homosexuals at all levels of supervision.
Every one in this Country has a Bible (and often multiple Bibles) - or easy access to the Bible. The problem is getting them to read it. As Charles Spurgeon said, people can take their Bibles off their bookshelves and use their finger to write the word 'Damnation' on the dust of that unopened Bible.
Send Bibles to foreign countries where people can really use them and they actually really want them. Sending it to a God rejecting Sodomite major is akin to casting pearls before a swine.
Send her some tracts maybe...
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