Pastor Spell v. Gov. John Bel Edwards Hearing at 5th Circuit in Fort Worth

 On Monday, Oct. 3, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, meeting at Texas A&M College of Law in Fort Worth, held a hearing in the case of Pastor Tony Spell v. Gov. John Bel Edwards.  No decision has yet been rendered in the historic case.  Pastor Spell has already won a final judgment dismissing all criminal charges against him in a case decided by the Louisiana Supreme Court.  Now the civil case against the governor and Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran is going forward.  After the hearing, Pastor Spell issued the following statement:

“Today, October 3, 2022, we argued our case for deprivation of civil rights before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, consisting of Judges Oldham, Elrod and Richman.  The hearing was held at the Texas A&M College of Law before a full house of attorneys and law students.  We kept to our argument that ‘Government has no jurisdiction in the church,’ which is based on natural law and the First Amendment.  Our legal team did an excellent job.  However, the extensive legal team for the governor and other defendants had no argument except ‘Yes, we infringed on your constitutional rights, but we are immune from any punishment due to our positions as government officials under the doctrine of qualified immunity.’ But they are wrong!   Qualified immunity does not give public officials immunity when they knowingly violate a person’s constitutional rights. As we await a ruling from the three-judge panel, my thoughts are we have a predetermined victory because we stood unmovable and did not take the bait of receiving ‘damages for discrimination’ based on equal protection.  While we know we were not treated equally as required by the 14th Amendment, there is a larger issue at stake.  As a church and as individuals, we have inalienable rights, especially those guaranteed by the First Amendment — Freedom of Religion and the Right to Assemble.  Those are the core issues here.  We are not willing to say that this is simply about equal protection, that the church was treated worse than Walmart. We have to stand for the principle that even if they close Walmart, the church has the right to assemble and worship. We’re talking here about the most fundamental rights that exist in our society.  The past 2 1/2 years have never been about a virus, but always have been about a complete hostile takeover of our freedoms. 

“We are grateful to God to live in this great, free country and also grateful for the millions of Americans who stand with us across the United States.”

      —Pastor Tony Spell