South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, December 11, 1987 Page: 1 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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16
*• • :
SOUTH TEXAS
t Catholic
Vol. XXX, No. 43 Serving the 314,812 Catholics in the Diocese of Corpus Christi December 11, 1987
Supreme Court agrees to review bishops’ appeal in ARM case
By Jerry Filteau
NC New* Service
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court said
Dec. 7 that it will hear an appeal from the nation’s
Catholic bishops of a federal court order to turn over
extensive files on their pro-life activities to Abortion
Rights Mobilization (ARM) or face J100,000-a-day
fines for contempt of court.
The high court decision to hear the appeal marks
another major phase in seven years of procedural
wrangling over Abortion Rights Mobilization’s court
efforts to force withdrawal of the tax-exempt status of
the Catholic Church in the United States.
In the underlying lawsuit the abortion rights
organization accuses the Catholic Church of having
violated Internal Revenue Service laws for tax-
exempt religious and charitable organizations by
politicking for anti-abortion candidates and against
pro-abortion candidates.
Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye, general secretary of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S.
Catholic Conference, in a statement released shortly
after the Supreme Court announcement, said he
hoped acceptance of the case by the high court
"signals that a favorable end to this burdensome and
intrusive case is in sight.”
He said federal courts so far have been “insen-
sitive” to objections raised by the government and
the Church over whether the courts have jurisdiction
to intervene in the case.
He added that he expected the high court to hear
oral arguments in the case in the spring. If it does, a
decision in the case most likely would be issued
before the end of the court’s current term next sum-
mer.
The court’s Dec. 7 action further delayed imposi-
tion of the $100,000-a-day fines, which were first im-
posed—but then delayed pending appeal—in May
1986 by U.S. District Judge Robert Carter of New
York, who has been hearing the underlying case.
Immediate issues before the Supreme Court in-
clude:
—Whether the NCCB and USCC, the bishops’
national agencies which were drawn into the lower-
court case as witnesses representing the Catholic
Church in the country, have legal standing to appeal
the subpoenas in the lower court ordering them to
produce internal Church documents.
—Whether the subpoenas violate the Church’s
rights to free exercise of religion.
—Whether the U.S. district court hearing the
lawsuit has jurisdiction to hear it or acted improperly
in accepting it.
Related to the jurisdiction issue are numerous legal
questions, chief among them:
—Do Abortion Rights Mobilization and the other
plaintiffs meet legal requirements for “standing” to
sue the federal government over its decisions on the
tax-exempt status of a religious body?
—Does court intervention in the case violate the
executive branch’s legal discretionary authority in
determining which organizations qualify for tax ex-
emption?
A Supreme Court ruling need not deal with all the
issues raised. Often decisions are rendered narrowly
on the basis of only one or two legal questions, leav-
ing others to be resolved at another time.
The federal government and a wide coalition of
non-Catholic Church groups had joined the NCCB-
USCC in asking the Supreme Court to hear the ap-
peal. They, with the bishops, argued that the lower
court overreached its authority in its acceptance and
Altar boys from Our Lady
of Guadalupe Church In
Corpus Chrlstl carry our
Blessed Mother's Image
during the dawn celebra-
tion of her feast last Dec.
12, while young girls per-
form traditional dances
during the 1985 diocesan
celebration at Corpus
Chrlstl Cathedral. This
year's celebration of Our
Lady of Guadalupe's feast
will be one of the biggest
yet. It was to have begun
Dec. 9-11 with three days
of prayer at the cathedral,
followed on Dec. 12 with a
procession at 11:30 a.m.
from Sacred Heart Church
to the cathedral and Mass
at noon. (Rachelle Ramon
photos)
pursuit of the case infringing on the First Amend-
ment rights of the Church and the proper discre-
tionary powers of the executive branch.
Abortion Rights Mobilization and fellow plaintiffs
in the original suit urged the high court to dismiss the
appeal, arguing that the lower court was acting pro-
perly and the bishops were “recalcitrant witnesses”
with no legal basis for questioning the plaintiffs’ right
to sue.
See ARM, page 9
Holy Cross parishioner
Bishop talks at Maritime
Bethany House ministers
serves God in special way
Ministry Conference
to the needy in Laredo
Page 3
Page 4
Page 7
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Freeman, Robert E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, December 11, 1987, newspaper, December 11, 1987; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840840/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .