Court order to disarm blogger challenged

A federal judge has been asked to revisit his decision against getting involved in a situation where a blogger was ordered by a state court not to possess any guns, in apparent violation of his 2nd Amendment rights.

The blogger, Mike Palmer, a a 55-year-old Christian missionary from Phoenix, was told by a state judge he could not have any weapons after a reader, Melody Thomas-Morgan from Prescott, Ariz., complained that the online discussion was a threat to her life.

Her legal allegations alleged Palmer was threatening her with "death," with that word in quotes in the legal filings.

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Palmer explained, "It is true that the blog, 'That Woman Jezebel,' talks about spiritual life and spiritual death. ... Spiritual 'death' as in 'The wages of sin is death.' (Romans 6:23) ... It is not true that the blog ever mentions the 'death' of Miss Thomas-Morgan."

Since Palmer's subsequent lawsuit names as defendants the state judges in Arizona as well as the state Supreme Court members, he took his case to federal court. But U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow's first reaction was that he didn't want to get involved in the decision.

However, in a newly submitted motion for reconsideration, Palmer said, "This same court just last month granted a [temporary restraining order] for Arizona residents who also sued a branch of the state government, citing similar constitutional deprivations. But in that matter, this court did not abstain. Nor did this court tell those plaintiffs to take their constitutional issues to the state judicial branch first. This court took jurisdiction and applied the standard of review to grant a TRO," he argued.

"The court is telling plaintiff to take this matter to the defendants he is suing, and let the defendants – who are judges – be judges in their own cause!" he argued. "By law, defendants must recuse themselves from sitting on this matter because they have a personal bias, since they are the defendants I am suing. And so both in theory and practice, there can be no remedy at the state level when a state's highest court judges are sued for constitutional violations."

He continued, "The matter is ripe because defendants did, absent law, deprive me of my Second Amendment right. This is incontrovertible and this is what makes this a federal issue."

Snow's original ruling said even though the state court had suspended Palmer's 2nd Amendment rights, "This court does not necessarily know all the facts under which the state court determined that the injunction without notice should issue … Thus, it cannot determine the extent, if any, to which plaintiff is suffering immediate and irreparable injury by virtue of the injunction without giving defendants the opportunity to be heard.

"In such cases, it is appropriate for a federal court to abstain from exercising its jurisdiction until the state courts have the opportunity to decide the question," said Snow.

"I certainly want my gun rights," Palmer said. "There is no law in Arizona which allows the courts to suspend any constitutional right, in this instance, my Second Amendment right. And, of course, my life's in danger now. I can't defend myself, I can't defend you. I can't defend my fellow man."

The issue is reminiscent of another Arizona case, where a local judge ordered Michael Roth of Quartzsite, Ariz., to surrender his weapons because Town Councilman Joe Winslow was offended when Roth allegedly called the lawmaker a "turd."

In fact, Palmer has set up a blog called Michael's Law in honor of the Roth case to tell his own story.

Quartzsite Councilman Joe Winslow lists reasons he sought a restraining order against resident Michael Roth, claiming his entrance to town hall was blocked and that he was called a synonym for dog feces.

Winslow told Karen Slaughter, the elected justice of the peace for the region, what he wanted was that Roth and others with similar views "not be allowed to walk around armed. To me, I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but I have been diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) ... that's what I'm concerned with, that he's gonna get so far into my personal space that I'm gonna react without thinking. I'm not making threats or anything like that. I'm not proud of that, but it's the way I am."

"I know that I'm 71 years old," Winslow said. "I don't want to be a statistic, I don't want to go to jail and I don't want to go in the hospital. But based on my history of 24 years in the service, I am more concerned about my reaction to his aggression than anything else, especially now that I believe that he is carrying a handgun. His actions have demonstrated in the past to me that he is not in full control of his emotions."

After WND's coverage of Roth's case, Slaughter eventually reversed her decision on the weapons ban, but Roth says she refused to dismiss his attorney fees.

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