The city of Houston is doing its best to channel the USSR under the sexually deviant mayor Annise Parker. The city now contends the pastors have no right to a jury trial and wants a hand-picked “special master” to review the evidence.
You may recall that mayor Parker had attempted to require certain area pastors to submit their sermons, particularly if they included references to the mayor or issues effecting homosexuality. It turned out there is a little problem with such requirements, namely that it violates the constitution.
Convinced by clergymen from across the country championed by former Gov Mike Huckabee that she had entered a raging national debate on religious freedom she wanted no part of the mayor backed off.
The dispute centers on tens of thousands of signatures collected on petitions to overturn the city’s “equal rights” ordinance adopted under the direction of lesbian mayor Annise Parker. Church members and pastors were outraged, and collected the signatures to reverse the decision.
The city, however, simply determined that thousands of pages of signatures were invalid. In response, the lawsuit was filed to force the city to follow its charter regarding petition signatures and challenged ordinances.
A short time later, after the city withdrew the subpeonas, it has now submitted several motions in the case, including one asking the state district court to deprive the pastors of a jury decision, leaving it only to a judge.
The city claims that since the pastors want an “election,” it is therefore an “election dispute,” and the state does not grant the right to a jury trial for election disputes.
The plaintiffs pointed out they submitted a timely demand for a jury trial and paid the fee, and therefore are entitled to a jury decision under the Texas Constitution.
“An election contest is a contest of an election which has already taken place. No election has occurred in this case. Calling plaintiffs’ lawsuit an ‘election contest’ does not make it an election contest,” they argued. “An election contest has a very precise and narrow definition in the Texas Election Code, and, as one might anticipate, requires that an actual election has transpired.”
They continued: “If the plaintiffs prevail on their claims, then not only is the mayor’s so-called Equal Rights Ordinance temporarily suspended, but the Houston City Council will be required to immediately convene and reconsider whether to repeal the ERO in its entirety. Council’s failure to do so then triggers a duty on behalf of the city to order an election and allow the registered voters of Houston [to] vote on whether the ERO should be repealed or not.”
The city also told the court it wanted a ruling that a special master would be appointed to hear evidence, keeping it out of the hands of a jury or a judge.
It should be no surprise that the mayor and city council would deny the regular order to have the laws they want. Progressives and the deviant do not love freedom or liberty. They prefer instead enslavement and tyranny.
This is why the bible describes such people as being turned over to a debased mind. Such people only embrace the constitution when they can use it to undermine the America we once knew.
