The judge has been named in FFRF’s lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his removal of FFRF’s Bill of Rights display in the Texas State Capitol.
The judge assigned to handle the case is U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks.
The case moves forward as Abbott’s and the state attorney general’s offices have basically shrugged it off by claiming it will be a slam-dunk win.
“The First Amendment does not require Texas to allow displays at its Capitol building that mock and satirize an entire religion,” said Abbott spokesman John Wittman.
The lawsuit was filed in February after Abbott removed the initially approved Bill of Rights nativity display from the Capitol, despite allowing a Christian nativity scene.
But, according to the office of state Attorney General Ken Paxton, courts throughout Texas have rejected other attempts to marginalize people of faith. “We look forward to working with yet another court to prove this group wrong,” Paxton spokeswoman Cynthia Meyer said.
“And we look forward to remedying a serious case of censorship of freethought views and rights,” countered Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president.
