ACLU loses courtroom oath case

Via North Carolina’s Greensboro News-Record:

A judge today dismissed a lawsuit prompted by outcry over the inability of Muslims to be sworn in Guilford County courts using the Quran, a lawyer in the case said.

In throwing out the case, Superior Court Judge Donald L. Smith decided that no controversy existed because the plaintiff was still able to affirm she could truthfully testify despite not being allowed to swear on the Quran, attorney Seth Cohen said.

The plaintiffs in the case were the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and Greensboro Muslim Syidah Mateen. The defendant was the state of North Carolina because the plaintiffs were asking to clarify a state law referring to someone laying his hands on the “Holy Scriptures.”

Guilford Senior Resident Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Albright and Guilford Chief District Court Judge Joseph E. Turner believed an oath on the Quran is not a legal oath based on their interpretation of that law.

Score one for judicial sanity.

I wonder how this case would have played out in a California (read: 9th Circus) courtroom? :-?

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