Looks like another first amendment fight

[skidmark]

Has anyone else bothered to read the court decision?

I read this thread last week but used the weekend for research before posting.

It does not matter if you agree or disagree with the concept of atheism being a religion or not. What matters is - did the court properly and correctly apply the law? Based on the way they approached the issue, which I guess comes from the way the plaintiff approached the issue, it seems the Wisconsin DOC goofed.

The biggest problem I have with the case is that the DOC should have been on notice (a nice legal phrase) for several years that this was a "religious" and not a "social activity" group. It does not matter how the barrel got there, but Wisconsic DOC is certainly over it in this case.

If anyone wants to change the way this got decided they are going to have to do it by legislation that can pass court scrutiny. The court here clearly laid out what that will take.

stay safe.

skidmark

 

[tyme]

The district court went astray when it evaluated Kaufman’s claim on the assumption that he wanted to form a nonreligious group. Based on that premise, it held that the defendants were entitled to assess Kaufman’s proposal under the more restrictive set of regulations that applies to normal social groups. Had the premise been correct, the conclusion would have followed: no one says that a person who wants to form a chess club at the prison is entitled under the Establishment Clause to have the application evaluated as if chess were a religion, no matter how devoted he is to the game.

This is an instance of the Enumerated Rights Syndrome. It is the degenerative psychological condition in which a person believes that any right not enumerated in the Constitution must not be a right.

If they let a prisoner form a study group for any particular reason, they should let that prisoner form a study group for any reason short of antisocial activity. If security concerns override a prisoner's right to form a physics, Russian literature, or ancient history study group, it must also be too dangerous to let the prisoner form a bible study group.

Here's the decision: 04-1914 : Kaufman v. McCaughtry