Brandon Jones, top left, and Tommy Coleman, top right, speak on behalf of the Hamilton County for the Separation of Church and State group to nearly two-dozen attendees during a rally held in front of the courthouse before the Hamilton County Commission meeting Wednesday.With the first federal court hearing less than a week away in a lawsuit two men filed against Hamilton County over County Commission prayers, briefs on a motion for preliminary injunction now have been filed.
In June, Brandon Jones and Tommy Coleman filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Tennessee alleging violations of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Later that month, the pair filed a motion asking the court to order the commission to halt its prayer practices until U.S. Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice could rule on the case.
On June 21, Mattice set a hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction for July 26.
Then commissioners passed a new prayer policy on July 3.
The county argues its new policy is constitutional and mooted all claims about events prior to its implementation and should be judged only on its face, since it’s only been in effect two weeks. The plaintiffs’ brief says the policy is a “sham.”