What’s Next: Deprivation of Civil Rights, Libel

In the aftermath of the Louisiana Supreme Court decision in the case of State of Louisiana v. Pastor Tony Spell, many people have asked what Rev. Spell’s legal options are.  Both state and federal law provide powerful remedies to use when government officials violate a citizen’s rights.  One of the most important is 42 USC 1983, which provides people the right to sue local officials who act “under color of law” to deprive people of their civil rights.  Typically, these officials rely on state law to violate federal civil rights.

The Supreme Court decision spells out in considerable detail how Rev. Spell’s rights were violated.  In fact, the court’s opinion tracks very closely the requirements of 42 USC 1983. However, new litigation is unlikely because Rev. Spell filed federal and state lawsuits two years ago that make the necessary claims. What could be new is libel suits against national news outlets that subjected the pastor to a raft of defamatory accusations.

The pastor has no skeletons the media could find after two years of probing.  Rev. Spell pastors a church that is 50-50 black and white. Yet, he was portrayed as everything from a mass murderer to a white nationalist.  As the lawyers review the countless defamatory statements made by the national and international news media, it will be interesting to see which they choose to litigate.

The federal and state lawsuits filed back in 2020 have been winding their way through the courts.

The decision in State of Louisiana v. Pastor Tony Spell puts such lawsuits in a whole new light.  Everything must now be viewed in the reality that there is a final judgment by the highest court in Louisiana that the Governor acted illegally in his attempts to close Life Tabernacle and put Rev. Tony Spell in prison.

Each one of the state and local officials who took part in violating the pastor’s right to freedom of religion took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Louisiana.

Often, public officials claim qualified immunity for their actions, but that does not apply when they violate a person’s constitutional rights.

Twitter Digg Delicious Stumbleupon Technorati Facebook Email

No comments yet... Be the first to leave a reply!

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.