Re: Houston Mayor orders pastors to turn over sermons about gays, gender and... the m
Not sure how freedom of speech or religion is relevant here since the subpoena only asks for publicly made comments of the churches. Kinda hard to claim suppression of speech to ask what they already said in public.
They also want internal memorandums. If the comments were truly public, then they would already have the material. Churches, however, are not truly public venues. Rather, they are private venues and speech made there is private in nature (though generally accessible to a broad audience).
Dunno why. Could be as simple as a rumor that one church was suggesting falsifying petition signatures. No one is saying, nor are they likely to. A subpoena is not an accusation of wrongdoing, it is not intimidation as suggested,
Yes it is intimidating- espescially when it is based on vague rumors and being requested by a government body that opposes the group.
Those groups are inherently private groups and routinely engage in constitutionaly protected activities. They also have an expectation of privacy. The subpoenas are extremely broad and are evidently not based on any specific allegation.
In short, when ever the government goes on vague "fishing expeditions" against an opposition group (and double for a group that they just happen to be opposed to) - no matter whether it is social progressives moving on conservative churches or right wing pro military conservative shaking down peace groups, the goal is intimidation / hinderance of an opposition group.
Now, lets change things up:
Greg Abbot, Texas AG: Hey Planned Parenthood- you are being sued because you
might have conspired to obstruct access to places of worship.
Planned Patenthood: Really, have we done something like that before?
Abbot: No, but you still
might have done it this time. Here is a subpeona for all written material and speeches on: Abortion, the Catholic Church, pro life clinics, oh and of course, Greg Abbott and Governor Rick Perry.
PP: We engage in alot of constitutionaly protected activities- those include opposing your policies. Furthermore, we have an expectation of privacy. Those topics are broad. Do you have any specific material to ask for that would support the allegation?
Abbott: No, not really. But.... you still
might have done something wrong. By the way, your humanist buddies at the "Atheist Alliance" are going to get subpeaned as well- there
might have been a conspiracy between you and them.
Wait, I can here the liberals screaming... .
A subpeona is not a warrant. Subpoenas are not subject to the probable cause requirement. And since subpoenas are not executed immediately, like search warrants, they can be challenged in court prior to the turning over of documents.
Thanks for the good information about a warrant vs a subpeona.
It seems a good litmus test on the legitimacy of these very broad, vague and non specific subpeonas would be if the judge agrees to implement them or not.
My guess is that the City of Houston is going to be out of luck.
