Universal Life Church v. Utah
United States District Court for the District of Utah
189 F. Supp. 2d 1302 (2002)
- Written by Meredith Hamilton Alley, JD
Facts
The Universal Life Church (ULC) (plaintiff) offered ordination into its ministry to anyone who wanted to be ordained, either by mail, through the internet, by telephone, by fax, or in person, without any further requirements. ULC’s ordained ministers were permitted to ordain others into the ministry, and the ULC maintained that its ministers could perform rites such as marriages. The ULC ordained J.P. Pace (plaintiff) in 1993 by mail, and he subsequently performed weddings in Utah. In 2001, the Utah legislature passed a statute specifying that ordinations obtained by mail or the internet were invalid for the purposes of the marriage-solemnization statute, which authorized certain religious figures to solemnize marriages. The statute did not exclude religious figures that were ordained by telephone, fax, or any other method. Utah law further provided that unauthorized persons who purported to perform marriages could be punished with imprisonment. The ULC sued the State of Utah (defendant) for temporary and permanent injunctions against enforcing the statute, arguing that the statute violated Pace’s constitutional rights, including his right to equal protection.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kimball, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.