The Pine Mountain Regional Library System, based in Manchester, Georgia, has settled out of court a First Amendment lawsuit filed against it by the American Center for Law and Justice (a law firm founded by evangelist Pat Robertson). The suit involved a man who was denied permission to display multiple copies of the New Testament on the free-literature distribution table in the Manchester branch.
The September 29 agreement specifies that the library, which has since removed the table, will notify plaintiff James Flournoy if the distribution service is reinstated. Officials are also paying the $30,000 in legal fees incurred by Flournoy.
“It just shows the extent the library will go to prevent the expression of religion,” plaintiff attorney Stuart Roth told the Associated Press October 11. Director Charles Gee had cited a 1997 library policy prohibiting the public display of religious information in refusing Flournoy’s 1999 request.
Posted October 16, 2000.