by Eric DonderoOn Thursday, a federal judge ruled that the group Arabic Christian Perspective can be prohibited from passing out literature on public sidewalks at an upcomming ethnic festival.
From the Detroit News:
A federal judge sided with the city of Dearborn on Thursday in a dispute with a Christian group over the distribution of religious literature during an upcoming Arab festival.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds denied a motion from the California-based ministry, Arabic Christian Perspective, for a temporary restraining order that would have prohibited the city from restricting the group from handing out literature, according to a release from the group's attorneys.
William Becker, a lawyer for ACP said in a memo to Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch:no other citizen is ordered to restrict what he or she can say or hand to another person. This is content-based discrimination against a Christian group, whose mission is to peaceably bring the good news of salvation to people attending the Festival.
ACP will now be treated as second-class citizens, forced to pass out their DVDs and booklets around the corner from the Festival, while other groups will be able to freely distribute their materials.
ACP is not there to criticize Muslims. They are there to do the good work of evangelizing, which might be perceived as threatening activity in a city boasting the highest per capita population of Muslims in the nation.
Judge Edmunds (photo) is generally regarded as a staunch liberal, who often sides with the ACLU in most cases, and in defense of the rights of criminals over those victimized by crime. She's best known for having ruled in favor of a class action lawsuit brought by a New York-based Foster Care association against alleged abuse in Michigan's system. The group argued against placing foster children with relatives. The suit ended up costing the State millions.Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly (photo), sided with the Festival organizers against the Christian group. O'Reilly is a Democrat who was a close ally of ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. He is also rumored to have close ties to indicted tax evader Talal Khalil Chahine. The owner of a chain of Arabic restaurats called La Shish, Cahine is alleged to have funneled millions from his business enterprises to Hezbollah in the Middle East. (Source: Detroit Free Press)
Attorney Becker vows that the lawsuit will proceed and that he and ACP will "seek an order permanently enjoining the city from violating ACP's First Amendment rights."
I have to mention a comment from LR's site on this post, funny and true: "Huh, perhaps they should pass out copies of the First Amendment instead."
