Judge Dread
By Carl R Trueman, First Things:
The case of a Wyoming judge has not made the big news as yet but looks set to be a very important and significant case. Here is the mainstream narrative from the Associated Press:
The Wyoming Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics is recommending the court remove Municipal Judge and Circuit Court Magistrate Ruth Neely of Pinedale. The commission started investigating Neely after she told a reporter in 2014 she would not perform same-sex marriages because of her religious beliefs…. In a similar case, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, a born-again Christian, was jailed briefly last year after she refused to allow her office to issue marriage licenses, igniting a national debate over religious freedom and civil rights. Davis ultimately altered the licenses to remove her name and title.
You can read the whole account here.
There are serious errors of fact with this account which make the comparison to the case of Kim Davis most egregious and frankly mischievous. First, the Commission insists that Judge Neely cannot remain a municipal judge. This is incorrect. Municipal judges are not actually allowed to solemnize marriages so Neely’s views on that subject are irrelevant to her ability to perform the job. Second, as a circuit court magistrate, Judge Neely has discretion when it comes to solemnizing marriages. She cannot be compelled so to do. In short, this is a clear piece of ideological bullying based on on a crafty piece of press entrapment working the usual angles in the current anti-culture. Indeed, there is no evidence whatsoever that Judge Neely’s personal religious views have impacted her professional behavior in any negative way at all. Judge Neely’s brief carries testimony from the LGBT community on precisely this score (page 3):
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