Opinion ID: 1435196
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Additional Facts Relevant to Daubenmire in 2004

Text: Daubenmire is the founder of Pass the Salt Ministries, a Christian organization devoted to upholding Christian Values in American Culture. In July 2004, he applied to the City for open burning permits for two ceremonial burnings: (1) the burning of the Koran and the rainbow flag at City Hall on July 19, 2004; and (2) the burning of several United States Supreme Court decisions, viewed by Christians as undermining Biblical morality and giving constitutional protection to sinful behavior, outside of the federal courthouse on July 23, 2004. When Daubenmire received no reply from the City, he assumed that his burn applications had been approved. Before Daubenmire began his July 19 burning, however, the ceremonial site was surrounded and monitored by dozens of City police officers, creating an environment of great intimidation for the peaceful assembly of Christians. A City official informed Daubenmire that his permit had been denied and the official threatened to arrest anyone who conducted an open burning. Daubenmire consequently cancelled the demonstration. On July 20, Daubenmire and one or more other Christian leaders met with City officials to challenge the denial of the burn permit. According to Daubenmire, At least one City official indicated that a permit had not been issued to [him] because of the content of what was being burned (i.e., the Koran), suggesting that the City did not want to damage its good relations with the Muslim community. The Christian leaders responded by threatening a press conference to expose to the community the expense incurred by the City for its massive police presence to monitor peaceful Christians during their demonstration. The City agreed to issue burn permits for July 22 and 23, although Daubenmire had to reapply for the permits, which each had a twenty-minute time limit. On July 22, the ceremonial burning took place without incident. However, on July 23, before the procession of protestors arrived at the federal courthouse where the Supreme Court cases were to be burned, City officials informed the Christian leaders that the burn permit had expired. Some of the demonstrators returned to City Hall, where one Christian leader burned the Court decisions and was arrested.