PAGAN RIGHTS NEWS: McCollum Case Continues!
PAGAN RIGHTS NEWS: McCollum Case Continues!
Rev. Patrick McCollum, Wiccan Elder, Circle Sanctuary minister, and director
of the Lady Liberty League Prison Ministry Task Force, continues to be
engaged in a major legal battle for free religious exercise and equal rights
for Wiccans and other Pagans in California’s state correctional system.
In 2004, Patrick brought a lawsuit against the State of California and
others on behalf of himself and Pagan prison inmates challenging the state’s
“five faith” policy as unconstitutional and in violation of prison religion
law. The five “recognized” faiths in the California correctional system are
Protestant Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Native American, and
Islam. Islam and Native American were added as recognized faiths as a
result of battles with the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR). Now, Paganism is having its battle with the CDCR!
Over the past five years, Patrick’s case has met with many challenges. Yet
the fight continues as it takes its next step. On July 2, 2009, Plaintiff
Rev. Patrick McCollum and the inmate plaintiffs, who were added to the case
in 2006, filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in
the federal court system in the case known as McCollum, et al. v. California
Department of Corrections, et al.
Rev. McCollum is appealing, among other things, the lower court’s ruling
that Rev. McCollum did not have standing to sue about a discriminatory
hiring policy, which favors five faiths to the exclusion of others, without
any unbiased, neutral justification for the policy. Some of the issues on
appeal will be: (1) whether a job applicant has standing to sue under Title
VII about a discriminatory hiring policy as a violation of equal employment
opportunity; (2) whether a job applicant and/or taxpayer has standing to sue
under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. and California Constitutions
about a preferential hiring policy as an establishment of religion (i.e., in
effect, “establishing” five preferred faiths); and (3) whether inmates’
freedom of religion and religious discrimination claims under the U.S. and
California Constitutions and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act were sufficiently alleged in their CDCR grievances.
Although no one can predict how the appellate court will rule, there is good
precedent in favor of plaintiffs’ claims, which the appellate court will be
likely to address in its ruling. Briefs for the appeal are due late Fall.
We expect the appeal to take several months. Lady Liberty League will keep
the Pagan community informed as the case proceeds.
CALL TO ACTION:
(1) SEND SUPPORT: Please send support to Patrick McCollum and this Quest
for equal rights for Pagans in your meditations and rituals. Send him and
those working with him strength, protection, and blessings of success.
(2) STAY INFORMED: To stay updated on this and other cases, join the Lady
Liberty League Network, now on Facebook and Twitter (@LadyLibertyLeag).
(3) NETWORK: Please share this update with others. More information:
www.circlesanctuary.org/liberty; liberty@circlesanctuary.org