The statute seems unconstitutional to me, likely based on Kiryas
Joel. But the answer to the “why?” -- not that such a purpose would
necessarily make it constitutional -- might well be for the same reason that
many public school districts have their own police forces, though of course
this one would be much smaller.
Eugene
From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu
[mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Ira Lupu
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 8:19 AM
To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu>
Subject: Re: State-sanctioned church "police force"
Why would a large, predominantly white suburban congregation near Birmingham
need its own police force?
For a related religion clause case, see State v. Celmer,
http://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/supreme-court/1979/80-n-j-405-0.html
(invalidating on First A grounds "a statutory scheme which grants various
municipal powers to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association of The United
Methodist Church.")
On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 11:04 AM, Paul Horwitz
<phorw...@hotmail.com<mailto:phorw...@hotmail.com>> wrote:
Here's a story from the AP. What do you (or, to use the proper and incredibly
useful grammar of my adopted state, "y'all") think? Is it a quasi-Grendel's Den
case or something of the sort? A direct Establishment Clause problem insofar as
it involves granting governmental or quasi-governmental status to a church
itself? A Kiryas Joel-type case insofar as it grants a governmental privilege
or status that might or might not be granted to, say, a mosque or some other
organization? (Not that I'm crazy about that aspect of the Kiryas Joel ruling.)
Or, insofar as state law allows the state to empower various entities to have
police forces, is it constitutional because respectful of equal access to
governmental benefits or privileges?
Paul Horwitz
University of Alabama School of Law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The Alabama Senate has voted to allow a church to form
its own police force.
Lawmakers on Tuesday voted 24-4 to allow Briarwood Presbyterian Church in
Birmingham to establish a law enforcement department.
The church says it needs its own police officers to keep its school as well as
its more than 4,000 person congregation safe.
Critics of the bill argue that a police department that reports to church
officials could be used to cover up crimes.
The state has given a few private universities the authority to have a police
force, but never a church or non-school entity.
Police experts have said such a police department would be unprecedented in the
U.S.
A similar bill is also scheduled to be debated in the House on Tuesday.
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--
Ira C. Lupu
F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law, Emeritus
George Washington University Law School
2000 H St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
301-928-9178 (mobile, preferred)
202-994-7053 (office)
Co-author (with Professor Robert Tuttle) of "Secular Government, Religious
People" ( Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2014))
My SSRN papers are here:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg
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