Judge: Rule too vague
Fortunetelling ban tossed
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A Livingston Parish Council ordinance outlawing fortunetelling and soothsaying is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
A Wiccan minister, Cliff Eakin, sued the parish over the ordinance, asserting inspiration from the divine transmitted by a Wiccan minister should be treated legally the same way as a message from God transmitted to a congregation by a Christian minister.
“I would highly recommend that the council not appeal it,” Blayne Honeycutt, the council’s attorney, said of Tuesday’s ruling.
Previously, Honeycutt had recommended to the council that it repeal the ordinance, which it enacted last year. Honeycutt had told council members the parish had little chance of successfully defending against the suit.
With a repeal of the ordinance facing opposition from some church groups, the council chose to defend the ordinance in court instead.
Under the First Amendment, the government can’t prohibit the expression of an idea just because society finds the idea disagreeable, according to the opinion by U.S. District Judge James J. Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District.
“The defendant (Livingston Parish) has failed to show that the ordinance is reasonably necessary to achieve a compelling interest,” Brady said in his opinion.
People who defraud others using fortunetelling methods should be prosecuted under laws prohibiting fraud, not under an ordinance that infringes on people’s spiritual beliefs Eakin maintained.
Brady also agreed with the plaintiff that the ordinance “is unconstitutionally vague” because it not only declared activities such as clairvoyance, mind reading, card reading and palm reading illegal, but it also forbade people to pay for these services and further included the phrase, “and the like.”
Eakin said that a Wiccan who accepts a donation for telling fortunes, for instance, shouldn’t be treated any differently from ministers or churches accepting tithes for passing on instructions on what they believe is God’s will.
The Wiccan minister said he knows of at least 100 members of his faith residing in Livingston Parish.
Many of them are reluctant to make their beliefs public for fear of religious persecution, he said, adding that members of the nature-based religion are sometimes mistakenly believed to worship Satan.
A Wiccan minister, Cliff Eakin, sued the parish over the ordinance, asserting inspiration from the divine transmitted by a Wiccan minister should be treated legally the same way as a message from God transmitted to a congregation by a Christian minister.
“I would highly recommend that the council not appeal it,” Blayne Honeycutt, the council’s attorney, said of Tuesday’s ruling.
Previously, Honeycutt had recommended to the council that it repeal the ordinance, which it enacted last year. Honeycutt had told council members the parish had little chance of successfully defending against the suit.
With a repeal of the ordinance facing opposition from some church groups, the council chose to defend the ordinance in court instead.
Under the First Amendment, the government can’t prohibit the expression of an idea just because society finds the idea disagreeable, according to the opinion by U.S. District Judge James J. Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District.
“The defendant (Livingston Parish) has failed to show that the ordinance is reasonably necessary to achieve a compelling interest,” Brady said in his opinion.
People who defraud others using fortunetelling methods should be prosecuted under laws prohibiting fraud, not under an ordinance that infringes on people’s spiritual beliefs Eakin maintained.
Brady also agreed with the plaintiff that the ordinance “is unconstitutionally vague” because it not only declared activities such as clairvoyance, mind reading, card reading and palm reading illegal, but it also forbade people to pay for these services and further included the phrase, “and the like.”
Eakin said that a Wiccan who accepts a donation for telling fortunes, for instance, shouldn’t be treated any differently from ministers or churches accepting tithes for passing on instructions on what they believe is God’s will.
The Wiccan minister said he knows of at least 100 members of his faith residing in Livingston Parish.
Many of them are reluctant to make their beliefs public for fear of religious persecution, he said, adding that members of the nature-based religion are sometimes mistakenly believed to worship Satan.
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