First sentence should read "the non-party pastors believe the _defendants_ will argue that their request ..." ________________________________ From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] on behalf of Walsh, Kevin [kwa...@richmond.edu] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2014 11:35 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: RE: "City subpoenas pastors' sermons in equal rights ordinance case"
>From the brief in support of the motion to quash, it appears that the >non-party pastors believe the plaintiffs will argue that their request is >keyed to evidence in support of affirmative defenses of fraud and unclean >hands. It's unclear at this point, though, exactly what the defendants' >position will be. Best guess would be something like searching for evidence >that the petition signatures were secured by misrepresentations about what the >ERO would accomplish. Even if the theory is not sound to support intrusive and >overbroad third-party discovery (as the motion to quash asserts), arguing in >non-merits-based litigation over third-party discovery that the plaintiffs >misrepresented the ERO advances the core themes of the defense. This kind of >tactic is common in commercial litigation like that in which Susman Godfrey, >Fullbright & Jaworski, and Haynes and Boone (the defense firms here) often >participate. http://www.adfmedia.org/files/WoodfillSubpoenaRequest.pdfhttp://www.adfmedia.org/files/WoodfillSubpoenaRequest.pdf http://www.adfmedia.org/files/WoodfillQuashBrief.pdfhttp://www.adfmedia.org/files/WoodfillQuashBrief.pdf http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140815005628/en/Susman-Godfrey-LLP-Houston-City-Attorney%E2%80%99s-Office#.VD3SedTF8Xc ________________________________ From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] on behalf of Allen Asch [aa...@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2014 11:28 PM To: religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Subject: Re: "City subpoenas pastors' sermons in equal rights ordinance case" Prof Volokh, You piqued my interest, so I checked out the "City of Houston's Response in Opposition to Plaintiff's Request for a Temporary Injunction" at http://lexpolitico.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/20140814-Response-in-Oppo.pdf I notice one of the arguments the City makes is that Plaintiffs have "unclean hands" because their petition signatures were gained by dishonest scare tactics about the equal rights ordinance ("Plaintiffs and their associates appear intentionally to have used falsehoods and taken wild liberties with the truth as they sought to frighten people into supporting and signing their referendum petition"). The argument alleges scare tactics about men being allowed in women's restrooms. Without supporting the use of those subpoenas myself, that argument about the scare tactics sounds like the likely source of the subpoena request for those sermons. I hope that helps, Allen Asch -----Original Message----- From: Volokh, Eugene <vol...@law.ucla.edu> To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics (religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu) <religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> Sent: Tue, Oct 14, 2014 7:59 pm Subject: "City subpoenas pastors' sermons in equal rights ordinance case" Colleagues: Does anyone know the theory on which the subpoenaed information is relevant here? http://www.chron.com/news/politics/houston/article/City-subpoenas-pastors-sermons-in-equal-rights-5822403.php Houston's embattled equal rights ordinance took another legal turn this week when it surfaced that city attorneys, in an unusual step, subpoenaed sermons given by local pastors who oppose the law and are tied to the conservative Christian activists that have sued the city. Opponents of the equal rights ordinance are hoping to force a repeal referendum when they get their day in court in January, claiming City Attorney David Feldman<http://www.chron.com/search/?action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics%2Fhouston&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22David+Feldman%22> wrongly determined they had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. City attorneys issued subpoenas last month during the case's discovery phase, seeking, among other communications, "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker<http://www.chron.com/search/?action=search&channel=news%2Fpolitics%2Fhouston&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Annise+Parker%22>, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession." The subpoenas were issued to several high-profile pastors and religious leaders who have been vocal in opposing the ordinance. The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a motion on behalf of the pastors seeking to quash the subpoenas. The motion to quash is at http://www.adfmedia.org/files/WoodfillQuashMotion.pdf . Thanks, Eugene _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
