Federal court denies Ottawa County's request to toss religious discrimination lawsuit from local pastor
A Grand Haven pastor’s lawsuit against the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners over religious discrimination claims will be allowed to proceed, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
OTTAWA COUNTY — A Grand Haven pastor’s lawsuit against the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners over religious discrimination claims will be allowed to proceed, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Rev. Jared Cramer filed his lawsuit in early October in U.S. Western District Court, claiming Board Chair Joe Moss used his position to "endorse a particular set of religious beliefs and exclude a particular set of religious beliefs" and therefore "is discriminating against certain religious beliefs," which is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Cramer’s attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard, argued that the county’s after-the-fact policy and formally invited Cramer to give an invocation was too little, too late.
"The fact that, once they were sued, (the board) voted to implement a policy designed to follow the law and made a belated invitation to (Cramer) to lead the prayer does not let them avoid the legal remedies to which (Cramer) is entitled," Howard wrote in a Feb. 9 response to Kallman's request for dismissal.
On July 2, U.S. District Court Judge Jane M. Beckering agreed, ruling that the county’s request to dismiss the case didn’t negate the fact that Cramer experienced potential discrimination.
Read more: Moss offers to let pastor give invocation, but it's too little, too late
“The harm alleged by Rev. Cramer is anchored not in future events but in disputed interpretations of past events,” Beckering wrote in the opinion published Tuesday. “His pleading sufficiently alleges a concrete factual context from which his claims arise. The court further determines that judicial resolution of the claims would be desirable under all of the circumstances.”
Cramer, of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, claims he first asked Commissioner Roger Bergman, who represents the city of Grand Haven, if he could join the historically practiced rotation of area faith leaders who provide the invocation at the twice-monthly board meetings. He was directed to Moss.
Moss is the founder of far-right fundamentalist group Ottawa Impact, created in 2021 after he took issue with pre-K-6 school mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cramer's attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard, said Moss has abused his power to reward or punish local faith leaders based on whether they align with his personal religious beliefs.
In an amended complaint filed Friday, Dec. 22, Howard said that, despite sending Moss an email in May and a letter via certified mail in August, her client only received an invitation to give an invocation after litigation was filed.
"It's not clear what else Rev. Cramer could have done to get on that list," Howard wrote. "He had given the prayer in the past, he had made a request to the commissioners of the districts where he lived and worked, and he had made a request to the chairman of the commission. Nonetheless, Rev. Cramer did not receive an invitation to lead the prayer."
Then, as Cramer delivered his long-awaited invocation on Feb. 13, OI District 9 Commissioner Roger Belknap displayed a sign that said "SaveTheChildren.com," a reference to the documentary “The War on Children” created by prominent right-wing activists Robby and Landon Starbuck, vocal critics of the LGBTQ+ community.
Howard said the sign was clearly intended to antagonize her client.
"The sign that Commissioner Belknap displayed, referencing 'The War on Children' while Rev. Cramer gave the invocation, felt very much like a continued trope to attempt to justify Ottawa Impact’s discrimination toward the LGBTQ community," she told this reporter for an interview in The Sentinel.
Read more: Ottawa Commissioner Belknap displays problematic sign during long-awaited invocation
"It demonstrated there was no mistake or oversight when Commissioner Belknap and Commissioner Moss ignored Rev. Cramer’s multiple requests to be given the equal access the law requires to provide the invocation to start the public board meeting.
"Rev. Cramer has as much right to give voice through the invocation to his practice of Christianity, which espouses love and inclusion to all of Ottawa County, as do OI and its allies. The board majority has demonstrated over and over again that they won’t comply with the law unless and until a court makes them."
Belknap told media after the meeting, according to reporting from MLive, he made and displayed the sign "as a direct result" of Cramer's planned invocation.
In her ruling to allow the lawsuit to proceed, Beckering said she was not weighing in on the merits of the case, but that it should be allowed to be vetted by the court system.
“The court, at this stage in the litigation, need only determine whether Rev. Cramer has plausibly alleged that (the county) took an adverse action against him,” she wrote in her opinion.
Beckering also is allowing Moss to be sued individually as part of the lawsuit, saying the claims over his actions allege illegal conduct, which should be sussed out through the courts.
“The Supreme Court has held that a defendant asserting qualified immunity is entitled to dismissal before the commencement of discovery ‘[u]nless the plaintiff’s allegations state a claim of violation of clearly established law,’” Beckering wrote. “Hence, the Sixth Circuit has instructed that district courts have a ‘duty’ to address qualified immunity when it is ‘properly raised prior to discovery,’” referencing the process before a trial where both sides gather evidence.
The county has until July 23 to file a response to the judge’s ruling.
— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.
What these extremists either don’t understand, or don’t care about, is that freedom applies to everyone! That said, we ALL have to give up SOME freedom in order to live in a reasonably orderly society. The mask mandates were a minor violation of your freedom to help protect people who might be harmed or killed by the Covid-19 virus. But, the refusal of Joe Moss to allow an Episcopal pastor to lead an invocation is clearly a violation of the First Amendment! It served no purpose to prohibit Rev. Cramer from doing so other than Rev. Cramer’s interpretation of Christianity is different (although seemingly more Christian) than Mr. Moss’s!
Wow, another bad decision that OI has to back peddle from to cover their tail. The OI agenda seems to keep racking up money for the Kallman Legal Team! With elections right around the corner, how will OI spin this narrative?