CDC Seeks Location to Hold Prayer Vigil During Presidential Inauguration
The Christian activist group says it will seek an injunctive relief in federal court if it does not receive a final answer from the National Park Service by the end of this week.
Security at the Jan. 20 Presidential Inauguration in Washington D.C. will be tight, reported a recent USA Today article.
So tight, in fact, that a Christian activist group, which applied for a permit to demonstrate and conduct a prayer vigil at the Inauguration nearly a year ago, has still not been assigned a location for its demonstration.
The Christian Defense Coalition said announced Monday it will seek an injunctive relief in federal court if it does not receive a final answer from the National Park Service by the end of this week.
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"It is now one month away from the Presidential Inauguration and will still do not know where we will able to gather to hold our prayer vigil along the parade route. Even though we applied for the permit almost one year ago,” said Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, in a press release.
Mahoney suggested that if the federal government denied the group a location to demonstrate, it would be a breach on the group’s constitutional freedom of speech.
“This makes it virtually impossible to organize our event. By refusing to carve out a space for American citizens to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights along the parade route, the government is chilling free speech and civil liberties,” said Mahoney. “A Presidential Inauguration should be a time to celebrate the First Amendment...not crush it. If our permit is not approved by the end of this end, we will file suit in federal court early next week seeking injunctive relief."
During the summer, the group also faced tight security challenges when applying for a peaceful protest permit at the Democrat and Republican National Presidential Conventions. But after CDC filed lawsuits against Boston and New York City for revoking the group’s First Amendment rights, it won in both cases.
The group said it will be praying for President Bush and calling on him to nominate pro-life justices to the United States Supreme Court.
Securing conservatives to the Supreme Court bench is a key focus among many pro-life, pro-family, and conservative groups for the next year. The heightened interest in the nation’s High Court comes after the Presidential election where at least one seat, and as many as three, on the coveted Supreme Court bench is expected to be vacant in the next four years. Chief Justice William Reinquist is currently undergoing chemotherapy for his thyroid cancer and is suspected of retiring soon. Pro-life and pro-family groups hope Bush’s Supreme Court appointments will help the court’s split lean more toward a pro-life position and eventually overturn Roe v. Wade.
