????? bushco plans to use churches as courtrooms -- blurs sep of church + state

[bobbieinok]

Anyone know anything about this? The following article is not very clear.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/10/29/05334/588/Front_Page/New_National_Program_to_temporarily_transform_churches_into_courthouses_

New National Program to "temporarily transform churches into courthouses"
By Bruce Wilson Sun Oct 29, 2006 at 12:53:34 AM EST



"Congress Finds The Following: (1) Fugitive Safe Surrender is a program of the United States Marshal's service, in partnership with public, private, and faith based organizations, which "temporarily transforms a church into a courthouse..." ( from Senate Bill S.2570, that authorized 16 million dollars for a three year implementation of the "Fugitive Safe Surrender" program )

In the September 26, 2006 print edition of New Jersey Lawyer an editorial described "a rather extraordinary exchange" between Chief Justice Deborah Poritz and U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie"* during which "The U.S. attorney requested -seemingly demanded- that the state set up court in churches for the purpose of arraigning fugitives" under the planned national "Fugitive Safe Surrender" program announced one year ago, to media fanfare, and then postponed last August, now slated to launch in mid 2007, that would give federal grants to churches for encouraging fugitive felons to turn themselves in; "arraignments would then be conducted in church, by judges, with the participation of law enforcement officers and public defenders. These arrests would involve bail hearings that would lead to the arrest of some defendants." A Cleveland television station that promoted the program's 2005 Ohio pilot mentioned that "ministers will act as advocates" for surrendering fugitives, but so far the New Jersey Lawyer editorial is anomaly among the almost uniformly enthusiatic media coverage "Fugitive Safe Survivor" has received.

However, the planned and funded US Marshal's service program features more than an historic reversal of centuries of US legal tradition by resurrecting something akin to the tradition of "church court" - the authorship of the program has blurred lines between the public and private, between government and business, almost to the point of obliteration, and possible conflicts of interest may help explain why the US Marshals Service has recently scrubbed information from its website that - until yesterday - promoted a private business, associated with the program authors, which has actually trademarked the name 'Fugitive Safe Surrender™ '.

....

The conflict between Justice Poritz and attorney Christie was the first indication that any in the legal community might be less than fully enthusiastic about such a literal blurring of lines between church and state. Citing technical concerns Poritz refused Christie's request, but the aggressive efforts of US attorney Christie indicate that the program is very much alive although it seems to be proceeding quietly for now. "Fugitive Safe Surrender" was scheduled to launch in August 2006, then an August 17th 2006 Akron Beacon Journal story headline announced "Fugitive Surrender Called Off". But, the body of that story contradicted its headline and explained that the program had not been actually cancelled but simply postponed until next year:
"We weren't 100 percent ready to go, so I made the decision to hold off,'' said U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott of the Northern District of Ohio. "We're still waiting for the funding to come in. But we are still going to offer the program in the future. We're targeting June."

more....

[grasswire]

1. bizarre!!

I sent this 'round to some ministers and defense attorneys on a listserv. Thanks for posting.