No First Amendment protection for church in priest abuse probe

[Khephra]

LOS ANGELES – A judge has ordered the nation's largest Catholic archdiocese to turn over the secret personnel files of priests accused of sexual abusing children and rejected arguments that prosecutors were violating the U.S. Constitution by interfering with church business.

Retired Superior Court Judge Thomas Nuss ruled in a decision made public Wednesday that disclosing internal Archdiocese of Los Angeles documents on sex abuse to government investigators doesn't hinder the church's ability to practice religion as protected by the First Amendment.

"I find that the issuance of the grand jury subpoenas does not have as a principal or primary effect the inhibition of religion," he wrote.

The archdiocese did not adequately show that the disclosure of the secret documents "would be an improper interference or entanglement with religion," Nuss added.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20040908-1730-cnspriestabuse.html