Key Cases: Hashmel Turner

Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the City Council of Fredericksburg, Va., for adopting a prayer policy that discriminated against the rights of city council member Rev. Hashmel Turner to offer prayers according to his conscience before council meetings.
On two separate occasions over the past several years, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia threatened to sue the city for allowing Rev. Turner to pray "in Jesus' name" during city council meetings. In November 2005, the Fredericksburg City Council yielded to the ACLU's demands and adopted a prayer policy which would render Rev. Turner's prayers "disorderly conduct" and subject him to punishment and fines.

But Rev. Turner refused to compromise his Christian beliefs by allowing the ACLU to dictate how he prayed. That's when he turned to The Rutherford Institute for help in defending his First Amendment right to pray according to his conscience and religious beliefs.

“In the state our nation is in, and the world, my belief is that our nation and service personnel around the world need prayer. We should be asking for that protection and guidance,” Turner stated.

In August 2006, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed Turner's case on the basis that his prayers constituted "government speech." On appeal, Institute attorneys pointed out that "government cannot itself pray, thus prayer cannot be government speech." Moreover, because the individual Council members controlled the content of their prayers, the prayers did not constitute government speech. However, in a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel for the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit declared that the policy did not violate Turner's free speech and free exercise rights. In January 2009, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.

"This is a very sad day for freedom of speech," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "This was a case that cried out for justice, but as Justice Thurgood Marshall once said, 'Justice too long delayed is justice denied.'"