Kind of a shocker. The insane suddenly go sane. It's a miracle!
SEATTLE — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed a ruling Wednesday which had upheld as constitutional a Montana commissioner’s determination that a church violated state law by not registering as an “incidental political committee.” Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in June 2004 after the Montana commissioner of political practices began investigating the church upon receiving a complaint from a homosexual activist group because the church spoke in support of the state’s constitutional amendment protecting marriage.“Churches shouldn’t be penalized for expressing their beliefs. They should never be forced to forfeit their free speech rights just because the government decides to enact unconstitutional laws requiring them to remain silent on social issues,” said ADF Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt, who litigated the case with co-counsel Tim Fox of the Helena law firm of Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman.
“Churches have the right to speak about the moral issues of our time. That is what churches do,” said Fox. “This ruling affirms that churches are free to disagree and to participate in public debate.”
The court ruled on appeal that the political practices law is unconstitutionally vague and that its application in this case violated the church’s First Amendment rights.
Wonder how on earth this happened? I thought the Ninth Circuit Court was hopelessly afflicted with terminal "Progressive" Liberal-Leftist Mental Disorder!
