Court rules against Contra Costa County on use of library room for religion
John Simerman reports in the Contra Costa Times:
Jordan Lorence, an attorney who represented the religious group, called it an odd ruling, only because of what he called the 9th Circuit panel’s “aberrant,” 2-1 opinion permitting the ban. Although the county library policy calls for using library meeting rooms for “educational, cultural and community related meetings, programs, and activities,” that covered a wide range of activity, Lorence said.
“The library has a basically wide open forum for private and community groups to engage in a wide spectrum of speech. About the only thing that’s excluded is religious speech,” said Lorence, of the Alliance Defense Fund, a national Christian legal advocacy group. “This (ruling) reinforces what the Supreme Court has said in at least five major decisions since 1981.”