In 1996 and 1997, two lawsuits in Alabama quickened a statewide controversy over prayer in public institutions.
The first lawsuit — seeking to preempt a related lawsuit already pending in federal court — pit Alabama Governor Fob James, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore, against the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama. The Governor, Attorney General and Judge sought a declaration from a state court that Judge Moore’s display of a carving of the Ten Commandments on the wall of his courtroom, and his practice of holding prayer by a minister or lay person to open proceedings in his court did not violate federal law. On November 22, 1996, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price issued a declaratory judgment holding that the practice by Judge Roy Moore and other “circuit judges’ undertaking on their own to conduct or arrange for prayer, including the prayer of a particular faith, in public courts and in the presence of individuals summoned by legal process for jury duty, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.” Three months later, on February 10, 1997, Judge Price amended his ruling and found that the display by Judge Moore of two hand-carved plaques depicting the Ten Commandments “hanging in the courtroom on the wall alone for the obvious and stated purpose of promoting religion,” also violated the United States Constitution. Judge Price ordered Judge Moore either to remove the display or to include it within “a larger display of nonreligious and/or historical items.” Promising he would dispatch state troopers and the National Guard to prevent Judge Price’s ruling from taking effect, Governor James announced, “The only way those Ten Commandments and prayer would be stripped from that Courtroom is with the force of arms.”
The second lawsuit, filed in federal court by the ACLU on behalf of Valley Head High School Assistant Principal Michael Chandler and his son, challenged the constitutionality of a state statute permitting student initiated, nonsectarian, voluntary prayer at school related student events in public schools. Mr Chandler also challenged a number of specific practices by school officials in DeKalb County, Alabama including organized prayer by school officials on school property, pre-game prayers at athletic events, and permitting Gideons International access to classrooms to distribute Bibles during instructional hours. On March 12, 1997, U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent, issued an order declaring the voluntary prayer statute unconstitutional as violative of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and directed the parties to engage in settlement negotiations with respect to Mr. Chandler’s remaining claims for specific relief against the DeKalb County school officials. The following June, Governor James filed a 34 page single-spaced letter with the court including numerous attachments in which he argued that the United States Supreme Court was wrong to apply the First Amendment to the states, and that Judge DeMent was without jurisdiction to declare the school prayer statute unconstitutional. On October 29, 1997, Judge DeMent issued a permanent injunction outlining in considerable detail permissible and impermissible practices under the Constitution with respect to prayer in DeKalb County public schools. On November 6, Governor James issued a statement promising to “resist Judge DeMent’s order by every legal and political means with every ounce of strength I possess.”
At the time of this email exchange, Robert M. Weinberg was a lawyer in the Civil Litigation Division of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. He was not counsel for the state or any public official in either of the two cases, but he did have an insider’s view of the decision makers in state government. Franklin L. Grose resides and still resides in north Alabama. An interested and concerned citizen, Frank prides himself on his citizenship and patriotism. Rob and Frank each had a private interest in the lawsuits before Judge Price and Judge DeMent but it was something unrelated which brought them together. On September 17, 1997, Frank called the Attorney General’s Office in Montgomery and asked to speak to the attorney handling a matter in Frank's neck of the woods that Frank had questions about. The call was routed to Rob, and following a brief conversation, they exchanged email addresses. The rest was about to become, as they say, history as Rob and Frank began a serious of exchanges, sometimes many a day, as they tried to be understood and to understand one another.
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