Court Hears Appeal of Burbank Prayer Ruling

A panel of state appellate court justices heard arguments Thursday on whether a court-ordered ban on sectarian prayer violates the free speech rights of religious leaders invited to pray before public meetings, as contended by officials in Burbank.

Two years ago, a Los Angeles County judge ruled that Burbank City Council meetings cannot begin with sectarian prayers.

During oral arguments Thursday, the justices questioned Chief Assistant City Atty. Juli C. Scott about Burbank’s position.

Justice Michael G. Nott of the 2nd District Court of Appeal asked Scott how Burbank residents would respond if a council meeting were opened with a Muslim prayer referring to Allah.

Scott argued that it is irrelevant to the case whether such a prayer would offend city residents. She said enforcement of the court-ordered ban on sectarian prayer requires city officials to censor speech, violating the 1st Amendment.

“This [case] is not about religion,” she argued.

But attorney Roger Jon Diamond, a free-speech advocate, rejected that argument.

“I guarantee you, the Christians would be outraged” by a Muslim prayer, he said.

Irv Rubin, the Jewish Defense League’s national director, sued the city of Burbank after he attended a council meeting in November 1999 that began with a Christian prayer. He was at the meeting to oppose the expansion of the Burbank airport.

At that meeting, David King, a Mormon bishop, led a 67-second prayer that ended “ ... in the name of Jesus Christ.”

King had been recruited by the Burbank Ministerial Assn., whose mostly Christian members volunteer to lead the invocation at council meetings. The association has just two non-Christian members, and they are both Jewish, Scott told the justices Thursday.

Rubin was one of two plaintiffs in the Burbank case. In a separate case, he was charged in January with plotting to bomb a Culver City mosque and a congressman’s office. He is in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles while awaiting trial, Diamond said.

Rubin “definitely wants to go forward with this case,” Diamond said.

The justices are expected to issue an opinion within 90 days. Besides Nott, the other justices on the case are Kathryn Doi Todd and Judith Ashmann-Gerst.