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American Christian Liberty Society On-Line News
H. Lance Freeman
April 29, 2008
A Christian minister in Virginia has filed a law suit against the Commonwealth; Tim Kaine, Governor; and Pierce Homer, Secretary of Transportation. They are alleged to have violated Virginia and United States laws pertaining to freedom of religion. The complaint was filed Monday, April 28, 2008, in the Circuit Court in Richmond, Virginia.
David Alan Carmichael has tried for over ten years to obtain a Virginia driver's license without identifying with a Social Security Number (SSN). He believes the SSN is the number of the beast referenced in the Bible's book of Revelation. Mr. Carmichael renewed is efforts to obtain a religious accommodation when he discovered that the Virginia General Assembly passed the Religious Freedom Preserved Act last year [Code of Va. §57-2.02].
Virginia began requiring driver's license applicants to identify with a SSN back in 1968. In the statute, the Legislature did not express a reason for requiring identification with a SSN. In 1974, Congress passed the Privacy Act apparently intending to halt growing demands for people to use the SSN as a mechanism for identification. 1996, the U.S. Congress imposed a requirement upon states receiving Federal welfare funds to demand applicants for professional, occupational, recreational, driver's and marriage licenses to convey an SSN on their license applications. Coincidentally, that requirement happens to be contained in section "666" of the Health and Human Services Code [42 USC §666(a)(13)], the infamous number of the beast cited in the book of Revelation.
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles issues driver's licenses without requiring identification with a SSN for people who can verify that their names have not been associated with the numbered records of the Federal Social Security Administration. In Mr. Carmichael's case, his name was associated with a SSN record when he was a child, before he acquired his religious convictions. In his complaint, Mr. Carmichael pointed out that allowing an accommodation for "technical" reasons, and then disallowing an accommodation for religious reasons shows hostility toward religion and not neutrality. He complains that both the Virginia Constitution and the United States Constitution ought to provide enough incentive for the Commonwealth to grant his accommodation request. Mr. Carmichael said every government officer doggedly claimed that there was no basis in law for them to grant a waiver to him and his family members. He said they showed "deliberate indifference" to the laws Mr. Carmichael cited that would provide protection to him on the basis of religion. Carmichael stated, "They are turning the authority structure of law topsy-turvy, putting administrative convenience of one 'means' of government above the 'ends' of government of the highest order.
At one time, Federal Courts ruled in favor of those who had a religious objection to identifying with a SSN. Courts applied what is termed as "strict scrutiny" to weigh the interests of government when their policies placed a substantial burden upon someone's religious practices. Then in another SSN religious objection case, Bowen v. Roy 476 U.S. 693 (1986), the U.S. Supreme Court diverged from strict scrutiny and used the less stringent "rational basis test." Bowen v. Roy was then relied upon by the Court in a different religious liberty case in the illfamed Employment Division v. Smith, 474 U.S. 872 (1990). In order to reverse the government's tendency to intrude upon religion under the auspices of the Smith decision, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act RFRA) in 1993 [42 USC §2000bb]. Thwarting that act of Congress somewhat, the Court ruled in Boerne v. Flores, 117 S. Ct. 2157 (1997) that Congress lacked the Constitutional authority to make the Federal RFRA apply to the States. Several states then passed statutes similar to the Federal RFRA in order to reinstitute the use of "strict scrutiny" when government actions substantially burden practices of religion. Virginia is the thirteenth state to enact such a law. Mr. Carmichael is relying upon the Religious Freedom Preserved Act [Code of Va. §57-2.02] to gain success. He cited a District of Columbia case similar to his own, Leahy v. District of Columbia, 833 F.2d 1046 (Dec. 1987), where the complainant prevailed when the court used the same strict scrutiny standard of review.
American Christian Liberty Society News - Article reproduction in its entirety permitted.
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ACLS is staffed by unpaid volunteers. Funds donated are used to hire well equipped Christian lawyers who are dedicated to seeking justice.
Contact David Alan Carmichael @ 757-850-1245
Gifts to the Trust Can be paid to:
ACLS Trust
P.O. Box 4096
Hampton, Va. 23664-0096
ACLS is staffed by unpaid volunteers. Funds donated are used to hire well equipped Christian lawyers who are dedicated to seeking justice.
Contact David Alan Carmichael @ 757-850-1245
Gifts to the Trust Can be paid to:
ACLS Trust
P.O. Box 4096
Hampton, Va. 23664-0096
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