American Christian Liberty Society

H. Lance Freeman
American Christian Liberty Society
April 21, 2006

Larry Lewis has been trying to get a driver's license for about four years now. His application was denied by the Idaho Department of Transportation and Larry has appealed his case to the Idaho Supreme Court. The Idaho Attorney General argued vehemently that Section 666 of Volume 42 of the United States Code mandates that Idaho require Mr. Lewis to identify himself with a Social Security Number, and that the Dept. of Transp. was justified in denying Mr. Lewis a license because he refused to put an SSN on his driver's license application. Though Mr. Lewis's religious convictions prohibit him from participation in Social Security and from identifying with an SSN, the Attorney General argued that the federal welfare deadbeat dad provision of Section 666 supersedes any protection from the Idaho Free Exercise of Religion Protected statute (FERP) as well as the Idaho Constitution.

Well renowned Constitutional litigator Herb Titus came to Larry's aid late into the Idaho Supreme Court proceedings. Herb Titus submitted Larry's reply brief to the Attorney General's written argument. Mr. Titus's argument supported what Mr. Lewis had been saying all along, that there is no compelling interest for the Idaho Department of Transportation to deny Mr. Lewis's particular request for religious accommodation. After a February 21, 2006, strong ruling in the United States Supreme Court on a parallel issue, Mr. Titus submitted a supplemental brief that pointed out that the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling supported Mr. Lewis's position and strongly opposed the position taken by the Idaho Attorney General [Gonzalez v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao Do Vegetal (Feb. 21, 2006)].

Feeling the weight of the legal arguments against him, the Deputy Attorney General J. Tim Thomas made a surprising motion in an apparent attempt to evade a Idaho Supreme Court ruling against the government. Mr. Thomas, contradicting his prior arguments, told the Court that Section 666 did not actually mandate that Mr. Lewis state his SSN on the driver's license application. Then he proposed an interesting innovation that would get the case out of the Court but still have the government satisfy their desire to have Mr. Lewis identify with an SSN. Mr. Thomas moved that the Court send the case back to the Department of Transportation with instructions for them to identify Mr. Lewis with a SSN , effectively behind his back, by placing in the driver's license record a SSN previously associated with Mr. Lewis.

This week, Herb Titus submitted a reply to the Attorney General remand motion. The reply is clearly designed to hold the Idaho Attorney General's feet to the fire regarding whether or not the Idaho Free Exercise of Religious Protected statute will keep Mr. Lewis from having to forego a driver's license if he will not forgo his faith (Reply in Opposition to Motion to Remand).

Oral argument in scheduled for June 8th, 2006 at the Supreme Court building in Boise, Idaho.