It's not every day you find that the American Jewish Congress, the National Association of Evangelicals, the A.M.E. Baptist Church, Michigan law faculty, and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression all agree with one another.
But this broad coalition of religious groups, law professors, and free speech advocates have come together to support a fundamental American principle: a preacher should not be sent to prison for writing a newspaper editorial that uses Biblical language to criticize a judge.
Three friend-of-the-court briefs were filed today in the Michigan Court of Appeals urging the court to reverse the decision of a Berrien County judge to revoke Rev. Edward Pinkney's probation and sentence him to 3-10 years in prison solely because of the editorial he wrote in a small Chicago newspaper. Click here to learn more.
Sometimes the ACLU stands alone in supporting unpopular causes in order to protect important constitutional principles, and we are proud to do so.
This is not one of those cases.
Today, a broad and diverse coalition of faith-based groups, distinguished scholars, and free speech advocates have come together to stand up for the constitutional right to criticize government officials, quote from the Bible, and predict what God might do.
To quote the religious organizations’ brief: "[T]he Framers of the First Amendment could not have imagined that it would ever be a criminal offense to quote scripture."
By Dan Korobkin, ACLU of Michigan Staff Attorney