First amendment suit against AIG bailout

[Ed Brayton]

The Thomas More Law Center filed suit on behalf of a Michigan resident
alleging that the recent bailout of AIG violates the establishment clause
because it invests public money in the insurance company, one of whose
subsidiaries markets Takaful insurance to Muslims. This is an insurance
policy that operates like mutual insurance except that it forbids
investments in companies that produce things like alcohol, pornography or
tobacco. You can see the complaint here:

 

http://www.thomasmore.org/downloads/sb_thomasmore/DepartmentoftheTreasury-Co
mplaint.pdf

 

The complaint strikes me as little more than anti-Muslim boilerplate. A
press release sent out declares that this investment in AIG amounts to
"promoting and financing the destruction of America using American tax
dollars." The complaint contains claims like these which seem legally
irrelevant at best and downright silly at worst:

 

3. As our history reveals, this Nation was founded upon values that
acknowledge the importance of religion, respect for the right of conscience,
and respect for the free exercise of religion. These values, which are
Christian values, are enshrined in the religion clauses of the First
Amendment.

 

4. The Shariah-based Islamic religious practices and activities that the
government-owned AIG engages in--activities that are funded and financially
supported by American taxpayers,including Plaintiff, who is forced to
contribute to them--are antithetical to our Nation's values, customs, and
traditions with regard to religious liberty, religious tolerance, and the
proscriptions of the First Amendment. These government-funded activities not
only convey a message of disfavor of and hostility toward Christians, Jews,
and those who do not follow or abide by Islamic law based on the Quran or
the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, but they also embody actual
commercial practices which are pervasively sectarian and which disfavor
Christians, Jews, and other "infidels," including Americans.

 

"It is clear, " said (TMLC executive director Richard) Thompson, "oil money
is purchasing the sovereignty of the United States and whatever loyalty to
America these greedy financial institutions, corporations, and universities
have left.  It's up to the American people to take back their country from
those who so easily betray its interests."

 

I would expect this lawsuit to be dismissed, but I'm curious to hear what
the experts on the list think about it.

 

Ed Brayton

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