Houston Mayor Backpedals on Subpoenas of Pastors' Sermons
BUT NOT REALLY!
EXCERPTS:
Attorney Joe La Rue of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the pastors against the city, called the mayor's and city attorney's supposed re-posturing about what they are seeking “wholly inadequate,” noting that the city is still demanding sermons and other communications to which they have no legal right. “These sermons, emails, and texts have nothing to do with whether the coalition gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot,” La Rue said, referring to the 50,000 petition signatures that were collected from residents calling for a city-wide referendum on the unpopular ordinance. While only a little over 17,000 signatures were needed, the Houston City Council rejected the collected signatures over what they charged were “irregularities.”
ADF spokesman Greg Scott told the online Huffington Post that, despite the supposed toned-down demands the city has come up with following the initial subpoenas, its “intrusive demands are the same.”
Scott noted that the city attorney's office is still demanding “access to no less than 17 categories of private communications (including things like text messages) between private citizens who are not even parties to the suit and other private parties. This is a naked attempt to intimidate private citizens who did nothing but disagree with the government over a policy matter. Do any of us really want to live in an America in which we can be threatened, silenced, and even punished for disagreeing with the government?”
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