NEYM was recently a signatory to an amicus curiae (Friend of the Court) brief, relative to a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Quaker Meeting in Green Haven Prison.
In January, I received an email from Steve Mohlke, General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM), summarizing a case that NYYM is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, and asking us (NEYM) if we were willing to submit an amicus curiae brief in support of the case.
The case revolves around Green Haven Prison, which has a preparative meeting with weekly meeting for worship, and for some years has additionally held a monthly meeting for business and an annual quarterly meeting. The quarterly meeting and later the business meeting were terminated by prison officials.
NYYM’s appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals was turned down, and NYYM, together with several monthly meetings and the local quarter, appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that “First Amendment right to the ‘free exercise’ of religion has been unconstitutionally and unlawfully abridged.”
Note that Green Haven prison is where the Alternatives to Violence Program began some 40 years ago, growing out of a request from prisoners to Quakers working in the prison at the time, for help in reducing prison violence and avoiding recidivism.
On receipt of the request from Steve Mohlke, I met with Sarah Gant and Nia Thomas, who were covering for Noah during his sabbatical, and we agreed that we found sympathy with the concern.
Sarah and I met with Fred Dettmer, the (Quaker) lawyer overseeing this appeal, to get a fuller picture of the situation and what was being asked. We learned that a number of individuals and yearly meetings were also being asked for support, and that Tom Bertrand, (Quaker) lawyer from Virginia Beach, would integrate the ideas and content into a single document based on language, concepts, and themes from the various inputs. In addition to various legal precedents, the document would support the concept that the business meeting and the quarterly meeting are integral to Quaker practice. With input from several Friends, Sarah created a document which was forwarded to Tom Bertrand. Tom circulated a couple of drafts of his integration, and submitted the final version to the Supreme Court on February 22, 2022.
I will note that the final brief quoted some of Sarah’s words, including this which, if the language is not universal among Quakers, gets to the heart of the importance and relationship of worship and business: “For Quakers, worship is the blood; worship for the conduct of business is the Body.”
We learned that on March 24 the Department of Corrections filed a brief in opposition to the NYYM petition, and on April 7 a brief was filed by NYYM in response to that opposition.
On May 2, the Supreme Court denied the petition, but Fred Dettmer is preparing paperwork to appeal the district court decision, which could potentially lead again back to the Supreme Court. Friends in NYYM are also considering a political strategy to address the limitations imposed by Green Haven prison.
I have felt throughout this process that there is such a long history of Quaker involvement in prison ministry, that there was no question about our support, and that the authorization for public statements gives the Presiding Clerk and the Yearly Meeting Secretary the authority to sign on to such a document.
Bruce Neumann
Click here to read the Amicus Curiae Brief.
Click here to read the NYYM petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.