Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse v. Nabors

• Decision Date: 22 December 2020
• Docket Number: No. 2:19-cv-00049,2:19-cv-00049
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee
• Parties: UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH MONASTERY STOREHOUSE, a Washington non-profit corporation; Gale Plumm and Timeaka Farris, a married couple; Erin Patterson, an individual; and Gabriel Biser, an individual, Plaintiffs, v. Wayne NABORS, in his official capacity as County Clerk of Putnam County Tennessee; Lisa Duke Crowell, in her official capacity as County Clerk of Rutherford County, Tennessee; William K. Knowles, in his official capacity as County Clerk of Hamilton County, Tennessee; Elaine Anderson, in her official capacity as County Clerk of Williamson County, Tennessee; Herbert H. Slatery III, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of Tennessee; Jennings H. Jones, in his official capacity as District Attorney General for Rutherford County; Neal Pinkston, in his official capacity as District Attorney General for Hamilton County; Bryant C. Dunaway, in in his official capacity as District Attorney General for Putnam County; Kim R. Helper, in her official capacity as District Attorney General for Rutherford County; Bill Lee, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Tennessee, Defendants.

508 F.Supp.3d 221

UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH MONASTERY STOREHOUSE, a Washington non-profit corporation; Gale Plumm and Timeaka Farris, a married couple; Erin Patterson, an individual; and Gabriel Biser, an individual, Plaintiffs,

v.Wayne NABORS, in his official capacity as County Clerk of Putnam County Tennessee; Lisa Duke Crowell, in her official capacity as County Clerk of Rutherford County, Tennessee; William K. Knowles, in his official capacity as County Clerk of Hamilton County, Tennessee; Elaine Anderson, in her official capacity as County Clerk of Williamson County, Tennessee; Herbert H. Slatery III, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of Tennessee; Jennings H. Jones, in his official capacity as District Attorney General for Rutherford County; Neal Pinkston, in his official capacity as District Attorney General for Hamilton County; Bryant C. Dunaway, in in his official capacity as District Attorney General for Putnam County; Kim R. Helper, in her official capacity as District Attorney General for Rutherford County; Bill Lee, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Tennessee, Defendants.

No. 2:19-cv-00049

United States District Court, M.D. Tennessee, Northeast Division.

Filed December 22, 2020

Ambika K. Doran, Bruce E.H. Johnson, Robert E. Miller, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Seattle, WA, Lucian T. Pera, Adams and Reese LLP, Memphis, TN, Rocklan W. King, III, Adams and Reese LLP, Nashville, TN, for Plaintiffs.

Jeffrey G. Jones, Wimberly, Lawson, Wright, Daves & Jones, PLLC, Cookeville, TN, Daniel W. Ames, Nicholas Clinton Christiansen, Hudson, Reed & Christiansen, PLLC, Murfreesboro, TN, Mary Neill Southerland, Rheubin Taylor, Sharon McMullan Milling, Hamilton County Attorney's Office, Chattanooga, TN, Lee A. Thompson, Lisa M. Carson, Buerger, Moseley & Carson, PLC, Franklin, TN, Jonathan David Shaub, Leslie Ann Bridges, Matthew Daniel Cloutier, Steven Ashley Hart, Tennessee Attorney General's Office, Nashville, TN, for Defendants.

Lee A. Thompson, Lisa M. Carson, Buerger, Moseley & Carson, PLC, Franklin, TN, for Defendant Elaine Anderson.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WAVERLY D. CRENSHAW, JR., CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This action for declaratory and injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201, and the Tennessee Constitution arose after Tennessee's statute regarding who may solemnize marriages was amended to prohibit persons who receive their ordinations online from performing civil marriages in Tennessee. Viewing this as a concerted effort by the state legislature "to exclude disfavored religious groups," (Doc. No. 1 at 5), Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse ("ULC Monastery" or "the Church") and three of its ministers filed suit in this Court against four Tennessee County Clerks. After the County Clerks raised questions about whether they were proper Defendants, Plaintiffs amended their Complaint to add as Defendants the District Attorneys for each of the four counties, the Tennessee Attorney General, and the Governor of the State of Tennessee.

Now before the Court are Motions to Dismiss filed by all Defendants. Namely, Motions to Dismiss have been filed by (1) Lisa Duke Crowell, Rutherford County Clerk (Doc. No. 206); (2) Elaine Anderson, Williamson County Clerk (Doc. No. 210); (3) Wayne Nabors, Putnam County Clerk (Doc. No. 212); (4) William F. Knowles, Hamilton County Clerk (Doc. No. 215); and (5) Bill Lee, Governor of Tennessee; Herbert H. Slatery, Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter; Jennings H. Jones, Rutherford County District Attorney General; Neal Pinkston, Hamilton County District Attorney General; Bryant C. Dunaway, Putnam County District Attorney General; and Kim R. Helper, Williamson County District Attorney General (Doc. No. 208). Those Motions have been thoroughly briefed by the parties (Doc. Nos. 207, 209, 211, 213, 216, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227 & 229), and are ripe for review.

I. Factual Allegations ¹ and General Background

ULC Monastery is a non-denominational religious organization headquartered in Seattle, Washington. (Doc. No. 80, ¶ 4). It was "formed to advance religious faith and freedom," and has two core tenets: "(1) a person should always strive to do that which is right, and (2) all people are naturally endowed with the rights to practice their beliefs, regardless of what those beliefs are, as long as they do not infringe the rights of others and are within the law." (Id. ¶ 23).

The Church ordains ministers over the internet at no cost, and sends credentials to the ministers so ordained by mail. (Id. ¶ 26). It also maintains a website where ministers can receive training and assistance on how to officiate weddings, deliver sermons, or found a church. Ministers can contact each other through a private social network maintained by ULC Monastery. (Id. ¶ 27).

Tennessee's statute regarding who may solemnize marriages is contained in Section 36-3-301. With the challenged amendment – underscored in the last sentence of the second paragraph below, and hereinafter referred to as "the Amendment" – the pertinent section provides:

(1) All regular ministers, preachers, pastors, priests, rabbis and other spiritual leaders of every religious belief, more than eighteen (18) years of age, having the care of souls, and all members of the county legislative bodies, county mayors, judges, chancellors, former chancellors and former judges of this state, former county executives or county mayors of this state, former members of quarterly county courts or county commissions, the governor, the speaker of the senate and former speakers of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives and former speakers of the house of representatives, members of the general assembly who have filed notice pursuant to subsection (l), law enforcement chaplains duly appointed by the heads of authorized state and local law enforcement agencies, members of the legislative body of any municipality in this state, the county clerk of each county, former county clerks of this state who occupied the office of county clerk on or after July 1, 2014, and the mayor of any municipality in the state may solemnize the rite of matrimony. For the purposes of this section, the several judges of the United States courts, including United States magistrates, United States bankruptcy judges, and federal administrative law judges, who are citizens of Tennessee are deemed to be judges of this state. The amendments to this section by Acts 1987, ch. 336, which applied provisions of this section to certain former judges, do not apply to any judge who has been convicted of a felony or who has been removed from office.

(2) In order to solemnize the rite of matrimony, any such minister, preacher, pastor, priest, rabbi or other spiritual leader must be ordained or otherwise designated in conformity with the customs of a church, temple or other religious group or organization; and such customs must provide for such ordination or designation by a considered, deliberate, and responsible act. Persons receiving online ordinations may not solemnize the rite of matrimony.

(3) If a marriage has been entered into by license issued pursuant to this chapter at which any minister officiated before July 1, 2019, the marriage must not be invalid because the requirements of the preceding subdivision (a)(2) have not been met.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-3-301(a) (emphasis added).²

ULC Monastery perceives the added language as part of an ongoing attack not only on it, but similar religious organizations. It points out that in 1998, "the legislature added language to exclude those whose religious customs do not provide for ordination ‘by a considered, deliberate, and responsible act,’ " with the intent being then, as now, "to target ‘the mail-order preachers,’ while allowing only ministers of more traditional religious groups to perform weddings." (Doc. No. 80, ¶ 30).

Turning to the individual Plaintiffs in this action, Erin Patterson became a ULC Monastery minister in 2015, and has solemnized five marriages (several in Rutherford County), and one vow renewal ceremony in Tennessee since then. (Id. ¶¶ 35, 37). She agreed to perform a marriage for a couple that resides in Williamson County on October 5, 2019, and arranged to meet with the bride to plan the ceremony on June 9, 2019. However, after learning of the 2019 Amendment to the statute, Patterson cancelled the meeting and told the couple she could not perform the ceremony. Patterson also told another couple that she could not perform their ceremony in the Nashville area on October 13, 2019, because of her continuing concerns about the Amendment. Patterson also claims that before the Amendment was passed, she had begun coordinating with local zoning authorities in Rutherford Count to make changes to her property that would allow her to host weddings. (Id. ¶¶ 38, 39).

Gabriel Biser was also ordained as a ULC Monastery minister in 2015, and has solemnized four marriages in that role. He agreed to perform a ceremony for a same-sex couple in Hamilton County in August 2019, but changed his mind after the enactment of the Amendment. Nevertheless, as a Hamilton County resident, Biser intends to perform marriage ceremonies there in the future.

Finally, James Welch, a resident of Putnam County, became a ULC Monastery minister in 2018, and has solemnized two marriages in Tennessee since then.³ On May 18, 2019, he was scheduled to perform the wedding ceremony for Plaintiffs Gale Plumm and Timeaka Farris in Cookeville, Tennessee. The day before the anticipated wedding, Plumm (who worked with Welch) left work early so that he could arrive at the Putnam County Clerk's Office before it closed. There, he met Farris and, together, they spoke with "an elderly woman" in the clerk's office who refused to issue them a marriage license because a ULC Monastery minister cannot perform a marriage ceremony in Tennessee, and any marriage so entered would be...