Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors refused to allow Wiccan to deliver invocation
The ACLU of Virginia has asked the United States Supreme Court to review the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision allowing the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors to exclude a broad segment of the religious community from the list of ministers allowed to open its meetings with a prayer.
In the case, the ACLU of Virginia represents Cynthia Simpson, a Wiccan, who in 2002 asked to be placed on the list of religious leaders invited to deliver the invocation at meetings of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors.
Simpson later received a letter from a Chesterfield County Attorney Steven L. Micas stating that only religious leaders who practice a religion within the Judeo-Christian tradition are allowed to participate.
In July 2003 U.S. District Court magistrate judge Dennis W. Dohnal ruled that by preferring some religions over others, the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors violated the constitutional mandate of separation of church and state and discriminated against minority religions. The judge ordered the County to change the policy to include all faiths or to stop using the policy altogether. Instead, Chesterfield County appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The Fourth Circuit reversed Judge Dohnal, ruling that Chesterfield’s discriminatory policy was constitutional.
“The Fourth Circuit decision is deeply disturbing,” said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. “No matter how you turn the facts, in the end the Chesterfield County board of supervisors, a governmental entity, is endorsing the Judeo-Christian religious tradition while discriminating against all other religions. This kind of government preference for some religions over others is exactly what our founding fathers sought to avoid when they gave us First Amendment.”
“We have asked the Supreme Court to review this case because the Fourth Circuit decision undermines one of our most basic constitutional principles: that government may not play favorites when it comes to religion,” said ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg, who is lead counsel for Simpson.
Also representing Simpson are Ayesha Khan, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C., and Victor M. Glasberg, of Victor M. Glasberg & Assoc., in Alexandria.
The case is Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors. An electronic copy of the ACLU’s petition is available upon request to acluva@acluva.org.
Contact: Rebecca K. Glenberg, Legal Director, ACLU of Virginia, 804-644-8022
