Posted by
Joe Knippenberg on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:39:14 AM
The appeal in Prison Fellowship Ministry case, about which I last blogged
here, will be heard
today in St. Louis in front of a three judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Most interesting is that the panel includes retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Surprisingly, the case hasn't attracted a lot of national news attention. I've seen three recent op-eds, a
conventional separationist piece in the Des Moines
Register and dueling op-eds by
former Missouri Senator and U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft and
AU President Barry Lynn.
You can read the appellants' briefs
here and the appellees' briefs
here.
Update: Don Byrd provides links to press accounts of the oral arguments. The optimist in me is betting that Sandra Day O'Connor can be persuaded that the PFM program functions something like a voucher and can withstand judicial scrutiny. In any event, it doesn't sound like the unprecedented award of $1.5 million to recompense the state for the money it paid PFM will stand. Its novelty is also likely to be the part of the case that most interests the Supreme Court.