CV NEWS FEED // Two legal organizations have filed a lawsuit after the National Park Service denied, for the second year in a row, the Knights of Columbus’ request to host a Memorial Day Mass inside a national cemetery.
The Knights have hosted the annual Memorial Day Mass inside Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia since the 1960’s.
On May 21, First Liberty Institute and McGuireWoods LLP filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against National Park Service, so that the Knights can continue on with hosting their annual Memorial Day Mass at the Cemetery.
According to First Liberty, the National Park Service denied the Knights a permit to host the Mass because a policy change prohibits “demonstrations,” including religious services, in the cemetery.
On May 13, First Liberty sent a letter to Chief Park Ranger Aaron Scott, urging the National Park Service to rescind the denial of the permit and allow the Knights to continue hosting the Mass at the Cemetery.
The letter noted that the Mass does not meet the definition of a “demonstration” and even if it did, the policy’s application would ultimately be discriminatory and a violation of the First Amendment, especially because the National Park Service was denying a group a permit based on the group’s intention to celebrate a religious event.
“If you persist in denying the permit, our clients intend to take all appropriate steps to protect their rights, including through litigation,” First Liberty wrote.
First Liberty requested a response by May 17 about whether or not the permit would be granted.
According to the lawsuit, Chief Park Ranger Aaron Scott responded to First Liberty on May 16, and included “a letter and permit, doubling down on his position that any non-committal ‘religious service’ is a prohibited ‘demonstration’ that cannot be held in a National Cemetery.”
“While the letter purported to grant the Knights permit, in reality, Ranger Scott issued a different permit—one that was never sought—for the Knights to hold their annual Memorial Day mass outside the cemetery,” the lawsuit reads.
Acting Regional Solicitor Teresa Garrity also responded to the May 13 letter from First Liberty, backing the National Park Service’s decision to deny the initial permit.
According to the motion filed on May 21, Garrity’s letter argued that:
the Knights’ annual Memorial Day mass is a “religious service” that qualifies as a “demonstration” under NPS regulations and Policy Memorandum 22-01, and that, under Policy Memorandum 22-01, “[d]emonstrations within a national cemetery are prohibited ‘without exception.’”
The Knights filed a complaint in the case on May 19, and on May 21, First Liberty and McGuireWoods LLP filed the motion for the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
“The National Park Service is way out of line,” Roger Byron, senior counsel at First Liberty, stated in a news release about the lawsuit. “This is the kind of unlawful discrimination and censorship RFRA and the First Amendment were enacted to prevent. Hopefully the court will grant the Knights the relief they need to keep this honorable tradition alive.”
