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Professor Douglas Laycock Amicus Amicus Douglas Laycock holds the Alice McKean Young Regents Chair in Law at The University of Texas at Austin. This case arises at the intersection of two fields to which he has devoted the bulk of his scholarly research for nearly thirty years -- the law of religious liberty and the law of remedies. This case is here on appeal from a preliminary injunction, issued by the District Court after a two-week hearing, affirmed by the Court of Appeals, and affirmed again by the Court of Appeals en banc. The District Court's fact-finding has also been affirmed by the Court of Appeals and by the Court of Appeals en banc. The District Court concluded that the government had failed to prove any of its three alleged compelling interests. The church having carried its burden on the prima facie case, and the government having failed to carry its burden on affirmative defenses, the church had carried the ultimate burden: "The Court has found that the Plaintiffs have demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success as to their RFRA claim." The District Court also concluded that the church prevailed on the less vigorously contested issues of irreparable injury, balance of harms, and public interest."This Court thus concludes that the Plaintiffs have satisfied the requirements for preliminary injunction as to their RFRA claim." The preliminary injunction should be affirmed. Excerpt from the Amicus brief, for a complete copy of this document click here. |
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