In a historic appellate hearing, a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals engaged in a lively discussion of the issues at stake in the case of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and InnerChange Freedom Initiative and Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM). Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who sits occasionally on assignment to lower courts, sat on the panel hearing the IFI case.
Little more than ten seconds into the State of Iowa’s argument, Justice O’Connor interrupted with a question, and she and her colleagues, Judges Duane Benton and Roger Wollman, were off for an exciting hour of engaging tour de force on the many important issues at stake in this case. It was very clear that they knew the facts and the record of the case intimately, and that they had thought long and hard about the implications of each aspect of Judge Pratt’s lower court ruling. You can listen to a recording of the appeal hearing here (enter in case number 06-2741).
I was not in the courtroom, but what comes across to me in listening to the judges is that they were clearly bothered by Judge Pratt’s decision; in particular they seemed to be concerned by:
- His characterization of evangelical Christianity (“lengthy and irrelevant” “outside the bounds of judicial ethics”);
- The extreme nature of his order that IFI repay the State of Iowa for all payments received, even though Iowa corrections officials felt they had gotten far more than their money’s worth for each inmate;
- His order that the program close rather than seeking remediation to bring it into constitutional compliance; and
- The repercussions of his logic, in that it may endanger all other religious programs in prisons, including chaplains.
There is obviously no way to predict the outcome of an appeal. However, it seems clear that every member of the panel was keenly aware of the importance of allowing departments of corrections flexibility in trying to deal with the vexing problem of recidivism, and that they found many aspects of the lower court’s ruling troubling. Their opinion could take months to come down. In the meantime, we must be unceasing in our prayers for the staff and inmates in the IFI program. They certainly have much to take comfort from in the comments of the judges on the appellate panel.
If you would like to read more about the case, I have listed below many other links that you will find interesting, including a brilliant opinion piece written by former Attorney General John Ashcroft, as well as the excellent amicus briefs filed in support of IFI.
In His service,
Resources
Recorded Appeal Hearing
February 13, 2007
Enter in case number 06-2741
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
InnerChange Freedom Initiative
www.PFM.org
Judge Pratt’s lower court ruling
Amici briefs filed in support of IFI
(For a complete overview of each amicus brief, click here)
U.S. Department of Justice brief
Attorneys General brief
American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) brief
Alliance Defense Fund brief
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights brief
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