Giving the church the tires or the money would moot the case. But so far, they have only announced a policy change, and that does not moot the case—especially where, as here, the other side has a plausible claim and could immediately sue the state officials to prevent them from granting the money or the tires and to force them to reverse the policy change. A decision to that effect could be reviewed in a different lawsuit, but that is always true in voluntary cessation cases. If the policy is ever reversed, the court could decide about it then. But the voluntary cessation doctrine says that the plaintiff who has gotten this far is entitled to a decision now, in this case.
Douglas Laycock Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law University of Virginia Law School 580 Massie Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 434-243-8546 From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Marty Lederman Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 3:31 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> Subject: Is Trinity Lutheran Church moot? Answer: Probably, but it may depend upon some still-uncertain facts: https://balkin.blogspot.com/2017/04/is-trinity-lutheran-church-case-moot.html
_______________________________________________ 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.
