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
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
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
There is a North Carolina case a few years ago challenging the campus police
forces of religiously affiliated universities as an Establishment Clause
violation. The NC courts upheld the police forces. That looked more like equal
treatment; this looks more like a special deal.
Douglas Laycock
I assume, given the size of the congregation, that the church is more of a
megachurch or campus, indeed much like a university campus with various
buildings and activities, than a church that is largely deserted except around
worship times. I can't say I know anything about the racial
I understand completely why a large institution or company, with persons
and property to protect, would want a security force on the premises and
under its control. But ordinarily that is done through employees or
private contractors, and the force is private. It does not have the power
to
It could be helpful to learn just what powers the church police force would
have that private security guards would not. I don't know much about what a
private security guard might do (in general, or in particular under Alabama
law). May a private security guard detain a trespasser or vandal (for
