Harris County Bible Update

There is an interesting letter in the official publication of the Texas State Bar, the Texas Bar Journal, vol. 67 no. 8, September 2004, page 614. Alas, I cannot link to it because as far as I can tell there is no online version. (Stifle your collective shudder--that is the way things worked for a long time.)

To avoid plagiarism, let me summarize Mr. Riga's arguments.

First, he points out that Judge Lake correctly applied the Lemon test. He goes on to argue, however, that the Lemon test is defective "in that even if there is a promotion of a particular religion, if that promotion is open to all religions or no religion, such a non-coercive religious symbol should be permitted. Only when such a symbol is offensive per se or coercive or intrusive should it not be permitted."

He raises an interesting issue, one that may come up later. Should the Supreme Court revisit Lemon? I will be interested to see if Harris County raises that issue on appeal.