Federal appellate court to review San Francisco board’s anti-Catholic resolution

San Francisco, Calif., Dec 16, 2009 / 02:10 am

A full panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments concerning the constitutionality of the San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s resolution attacking the Catholic Church for its opposition to the adoption of children by homosexuals.

The panel will review the earlier opinion of a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel that upheld the resolution.

Robert Muise, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, will argue on behalf of the plaintiffs, the Catholic League and two Catholic residents of San Francisco.

The Law Center in a statement charged that the resolution sounded “like a Ku Klux Klan anti-Catholic diatribe.”

It refers to the Vatican as a “foreign country” interfering in the affairs of the city. It says the Church’s teaching on homosexuality is “insulting to all San Franciscans,” “hateful,” “insulting and callous,” “defamatory” and “insensitive and ignorant.”

The Board’s resolution refers to the Inquisition and urges the Archbishop of San Francisco and Catholic Charities of San Francisco to defy Church directives.

The resolution was unanimously adopted by the Board on March 21, 2006.

The lawsuit charges that the resolution violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution on the grounds that it expresses government hostility toward the Catholic Church.

In the Thomas More Law Center’s view, the “anti-Catholic” resolution sends a clear message to the plaintiffs and other faithful Catholics that “they are outsiders, not full members of the political community.” It also tells those who oppose Catholic beliefs that they are “insiders” and “favored members of the political community.”