Ethics

More on the Loud Church Music Suit

By Ed Brayton

I've been reading the complaint from the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of a Waterford church that allegedly was playing music too loudly. A couple of interesting things in it. First, the TMLC actually is demanding that the church be allowed to play music as loudly as they want and claiming that they have a constitutional right to do so. Part of the prayer for relief is that they want the court "to enter judgment declaring that Waterford Township Ordinance, Sec. 11-167
"Disturbing the Peace" is unconstitutional on its face and unconstitutional as applied to Plaintiffs
as set forth in this Complaint." They further want the court "to enjoin Defendants, their employees, agents, and successors in office from formulating, adopting, implementing, and/or enforcing or threatening to enforce any act, policy, custom, law, and/or decision having the effect of unlawfully preventing Plaintiffs' from exercising their constitutional rights to freely exercise their religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of expressive association guaranteed under the United States Constitution and the Michigan Constitution of 1963."

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 16, 2008 (boomark / email).