ANNOUNCEMENTS
with Update
with Update
Feb. 23: The Rev. Jim Lewis, assistant to Bishop Lawrence, sent an email today (Feb. 23) to the Diocese of South Carolina clergy and wardens announcing that the U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled a conference on DSC's petition to the court, on March 16. I do not know yet whether the Episcopal Church and the Church diocese have filed a response to the DSC petition with the court. I will return when I have more on this.
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UPDATE (Feb. 24):
The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church in South Carolina momentarily waived the right to respond to the Feb. 9 DSC petition for cert in SCOTUS on Feb. 13 and 14. TEC/TECSC could return in the future and file a response. I assume TEC/TECSC did this to expedite the process. Filing a response would have delayed the court's action on this matter by weeks or months. Waiving a response occurred in the Ft. Worth case when the Church side appealed to SCOTUS and the independent diocese of Ft. Worth opted not to file a response in the interest of speeding up the process which they believed would lead to dismissal of the petition for cert. In that case, the court asked the independent diocese to file a response which it did. After that, SCOTUS denied cert ending the matter.
The Church side's choice of no response to the DSC petition of Feb. 9, 2018, tells me the Church lawyers expect SCOTUS to dismiss the appeal right away.
On Feb. 21, DSC's petition was distributed to the justices in preparation of a conference on Mar. 16.
SCOTUS releases the results of conference decisions on the Monday following the week in which the conference occurred.
Therefore, we should know the decision at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, March 19.
See the official listing of the case on the Supreme Court website here . The case Number is 17-1136.
What is a Supreme Court "conference"? These are normally held twice a week during the court term (October-June), on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Only the nine justices are allowed in the room. Their first order of business is to discuss the appeals for "certiorari." Four of the nine justices must vote to approve the acceptance of an appeal, that is to grant "cert." Granting or denying cert has no relationship to their opinions of the case. The choice to accept a case depends on the justices' attitude of the importance of the constitutional issues at hand. It is not a reflection of how they will judge the case. The justices then go on in conference to vote on the cases they have heard in oral arguments during the week. The decisions are usually announced the following Monday. For more on the court process see here . For more on a writ of certiorari, see here .
Thus, on Mar. 16, we can expect that the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will either grant or deny "cert," that is, they will accept the appeal from DSC or reject it. If they accept, the case will be put on the court docket for an oral hearing, after which the justices will render a decision by majority vote. If they deny, that is the end of the matter. The South Carolina Supreme Court decision of Aug. 2 will stand as the final word on the matter. In this, the court ruled that 29 of the 36 parishes in question, plus Camp St. Christopher, remained under trust control of the Episcopal Church. This decision is not on stay, meaning that the Church lawyers could move to enact the decision and reclaim the properties of the 29 parishes and the Camp.
So, what will SCOTUS decide? One factor to consider is that the court accepts only about 1% of all appeals. The most important factor is whether the justices see the issue in the case as of urgent national or constitutional importance. Odds are that SCOTUS will deny cert. As I see it, the best hope DSC has of acceptance is that the court would want to clarify its "neutral principles" guideline, that is, to differentiate between their earlier Jones and Serbian Orthodox decisions.
Bottom line. I doubt seriously that SCOTUS will take this case mainly because of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that strictly forbids the civic state from interfering in the matters of a religious institution. The Supreme Court will be loath to take on this sacrosanct bedrock principle of American life. Time and again, the court has rejected appeals from Episcopal Church cases involving property. I expect they will do the same again next month.
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UPDATE (Feb. 24):
The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church in South Carolina momentarily waived the right to respond to the Feb. 9 DSC petition for cert in SCOTUS on Feb. 13 and 14. TEC/TECSC could return in the future and file a response. I assume TEC/TECSC did this to expedite the process. Filing a response would have delayed the court's action on this matter by weeks or months. Waiving a response occurred in the Ft. Worth case when the Church side appealed to SCOTUS and the independent diocese of Ft. Worth opted not to file a response in the interest of speeding up the process which they believed would lead to dismissal of the petition for cert. In that case, the court asked the independent diocese to file a response which it did. After that, SCOTUS denied cert ending the matter.
The Church side's choice of no response to the DSC petition of Feb. 9, 2018, tells me the Church lawyers expect SCOTUS to dismiss the appeal right away.
On Feb. 21, DSC's petition was distributed to the justices in preparation of a conference on Mar. 16.
SCOTUS releases the results of conference decisions on the Monday following the week in which the conference occurred.
Therefore, we should know the decision at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, March 19.
See the official listing of the case on the Supreme Court website here . The case Number is 17-1136.
What is a Supreme Court "conference"? These are normally held twice a week during the court term (October-June), on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Only the nine justices are allowed in the room. Their first order of business is to discuss the appeals for "certiorari." Four of the nine justices must vote to approve the acceptance of an appeal, that is to grant "cert." Granting or denying cert has no relationship to their opinions of the case. The choice to accept a case depends on the justices' attitude of the importance of the constitutional issues at hand. It is not a reflection of how they will judge the case. The justices then go on in conference to vote on the cases they have heard in oral arguments during the week. The decisions are usually announced the following Monday. For more on the court process see here . For more on a writ of certiorari, see here .
Thus, on Mar. 16, we can expect that the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will either grant or deny "cert," that is, they will accept the appeal from DSC or reject it. If they accept, the case will be put on the court docket for an oral hearing, after which the justices will render a decision by majority vote. If they deny, that is the end of the matter. The South Carolina Supreme Court decision of Aug. 2 will stand as the final word on the matter. In this, the court ruled that 29 of the 36 parishes in question, plus Camp St. Christopher, remained under trust control of the Episcopal Church. This decision is not on stay, meaning that the Church lawyers could move to enact the decision and reclaim the properties of the 29 parishes and the Camp.
So, what will SCOTUS decide? One factor to consider is that the court accepts only about 1% of all appeals. The most important factor is whether the justices see the issue in the case as of urgent national or constitutional importance. Odds are that SCOTUS will deny cert. As I see it, the best hope DSC has of acceptance is that the court would want to clarify its "neutral principles" guideline, that is, to differentiate between their earlier Jones and Serbian Orthodox decisions.
Bottom line. I doubt seriously that SCOTUS will take this case mainly because of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that strictly forbids the civic state from interfering in the matters of a religious institution. The Supreme Court will be loath to take on this sacrosanct bedrock principle of American life. Time and again, the court has rejected appeals from Episcopal Church cases involving property. I expect they will do the same again next month.
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On another note, DSC is stepping up its demonization of the Episcopal Church, no doubt in preparation for the enactment of the Dec. 1, 2017 Plan of relocation of congregations to new quarters. In this case, the Rev. Al Zadig, of St. Michael's, and the Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian have scheduled three sessions at St. Michael's but we are told this is "not about politics and sexuality." Really? Read the schedule here . Sounds as if it's nothing but politics and sexuality.
I will return when I have more information on the SCOTUS events.
