A bit more on the Harris County Bible Case

It turns out my assumptions were wrong (in the previous posting). There were no intervening parties to the suit. Karen Friend and William and Lisa Drout petitioned to intervene, but on January 12 their Motion for Leave of Court to Intervene was denied.

If you are interested you can read the judgment, but let me summarize by saying I think it is a good result. As usual Judge Sim Lake has carefully reasoned his opinion and I think it would be upheld were it appealed (though I don’t think it was).

What is different about the Star of Hope Mission, however, is that they actually own the bible and possibly the monument in question. They may very well have a very important interest in whether it is removed since it is theirs. As far as intervening just to assert some sort of first amendment religious argument, I think it is more of a stretch. Owning the book might overcome that though.