Wake allows religious, political events in libraries after lawsuit

Religious and political groups will be allowed to use space in Wake County libraries following a lawsuit by a Christian group that was denied space at the Cameron Village Regional Library.

The Florida-based Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit also known as the Freedom Foundation, sued Wake in April after Cameron Village librarians cited county policy in denying the group access to a conference room.

Conference rooms in Wake libraries are primarily used by county-related organizations, but the county’s former policy allowed non-religious and non-partisan activities in the rooms when they were available.

The Liberty Counsel applied twice – once in 2013, once in 2014 – to use a conference room for “an educational program promoting a Christian view of the founding of America,” according to court documents. But librarians at the Raleigh library turned down the group because it planned to conduct religious instruction.

Event leaders hoped to open the hour-long program with a prayer, quote extensively from the Bible and talk about the founding fathers’ religious views, said Harry Mihet, vice president of legal affairs for the group.

“We emphasize the fact that the founders were motivated by their religious beliefs,” he said.

Liberty Counsel sued the county on April 24 for violating its free speech rights. Wake changed the policy on May 27, according to Frank Cope, Wake’s community services director. The sides reached a settlement on June 23.

U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan ordered Wake to pay the Liberty Counsel $100 in damages. Other terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed in court documents, but Mihet said Wake also paid some of the group’s legal costs and changed its policy “as a direct result of litigation.”

Scott Warren, the county attorney, declined to talk about litigation or the terms of the settlement. But he suggested the county might have changed its policy if Liberty Counsel had contacted him or other administrators to discuss the issue.

Warren said, to his recollection, Liberty Counsel never filed a complaint with any county official besides those at the Cameron Village library.

“The county realizes there’s an issue and is proactive about fixing things,” Warren said. “I wish we would have had an opportunity to fix (the policy) before litigation.”

Court records show only that Liberty Counsel communicated with Susan Lane, an assistant at the Cameron Village library.

“Wake County’s policy did not provide any mechanism for appealing a denial of access,” Mihet wrote in an email. “It vested sole discretion in one official, which is who we contacted, repeatedly.”

Wake County isn’t the only local government body in the Triangle to open its facilities to religious and political groups.

Policies in Durham County, Orange County and Chapel Hill allow local groups and organizations to use their library rooms regardless of their religious or political affiliations.

Meanwhile, public schools in North Carolina are bound by state law to open up their facilities for such uses. More than 30 church groups currently use Wake County schools on a regular basis, said Lisa Luten, a spokeswoman for Wake’s public school system. The system has hundreds of renters, she said.

Mihet said he didn’t know if this group had held events at Wake facilities prior to its initial Cameron Village request. While many governments open their facilities to groups like his, Mihet said Liberty Counsel has had to sue government bodies in several states to use public facilities such as libraries, city halls and schools.

“The county does not have to open up the library to public use,” he said. “Once the library decides to open up its facilities for some sort of public expression, it cannot exclude … expression that is religious in nature.”

Legal experts generally agree with Mihet’s assessment.

“The subject matter of a discussion shouldn’t determine whether government space is available to a group,” said Chris Brook, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. “Government can’t engage in viewpoint discrimination.”

The Supreme Court ruled on several cases before 2009, when Wake’s policy was enacted, that suggested the county would lose any legal battle, said Greg Wallace, a professor at Campbell University’s law school,

“If the (library) room is opened up to create what the Supreme Court calls a designated forum for expressive activities, then the library cannot discriminate based on someone's views,” Wallace said.

Warren, the county attorney, said he’s not aware of any religious or political groups that have applied to use Wake library rooms since the policy change.

Liberty Counsel may be the first.

The group plans to re-apply to use a room at the Cameron Village library, Mihet said, adding that he wouldn’t mind if groups he disagreed with – such as a Satanist Church – did the same.

“That would not bother us at all,” he said. “The solution to speech you do not agree with is more speech, not the the suppression of speech.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Wake allows religious, political events in libraries after lawsuit."