AIG bailout - Establishment Clause(!) challenge allowed to proceed

[charlie]

Huh. Who knew AIG had a Sharia Supervisory Committee? The Thomas More Law Center does, and with a nimbleness only wingers can muster, the conservadroid "family values" group turns hypocrisy into a virtue and decides church/state separation is paramount.

The judge's ruling on the petition to dismiss:

In this case, the fact that AIG is largely a secular entity is not dispositive: The question in an as-applied challenge is not whether the entity is of a religious character, but how it spends its grant. The circumstances of this case are historic, and the pressure upon the government to navigate this financial crisis is unfathomable. Times of crisis, however, do not justify departure from the Constitution. In this case, the United States government has a majority interest in AIG. AIG utilizes consolidated financing whereby all funds flow through a single port to support all of its activities, including Sharia-compliant financing. Pursuant to the EESA, the government has injected AIG with tens of billions of dollars, without restricting or tracking how this considerable sum of money is spent. At least two of AIG’s subsidiary companies practice Sharia-compliant financing, one of which was unveiled after the influx of government cash. After using the $40 billion from the government to pay down the $85 billion credit facility, the credit facility retained $60 billion in available credit, suggesting that AIG did not use all $40 billion consistent with its press release. Finally, after the government acquired a majority interest in AIG and contributed substantial funds to AIG for operational purposes, the government co-sponsored a forum entitled “Islamic Finance 101.” These facts, taken together, raise a question of whether the government’s involvement with AIG has created the effect of promoting religion and sufficiently raise Plaintiff’s claim beyond the speculative level, warranting dismissal inappropriate at this stage in the proceedings.

http://www.thomasmore.org/qry/page.taf?id=19&_function=print&sbtblct_uid1=665&month=05&year=2009

Tangentially related, the FFRF's challenge to the National Day of Prayer has also won against a motion to dismiss.

http://www.ffrf.org/news/2009/NDPcaseproceeds.php