The Virginia Supreme Court has set oral arguments in the appeals brought by ECUSA and the Diocese of Virginia in the cases involving eleven ACNA parishes in the Anglican District of Virginia. I have previously discussed what took place at the hearings below in this post, and in this one; they may serve as background to understanding the issues involved. In this post, I would like to sketch out the issues as ECUSA and the Diocese have presented them in their briefs. In a subsequent post, I will go over the arguments of the ACNA parishes in opposition.
There is no way, of course, to predict what the Virginia Supreme Court will find significant in the briefs and arguments presented to it. Moreover, I am not licensed to practice in Virginia; someone who is may pick up on points of Virginia law and procedure that I have missed. Thus do not use these posts as a basis to expect any particular outcome. Instead, to the extent they assist you in making your way through the forest of contentions and counter-contentions, and in evaluating their relative strengths and weaknesses, they will have served their purpose.
At issue in these appeals is the interpretation and application of this Virginia statute, first adopted in 1867…
Would it be safe to assume that even if the State statute were found to be unconstitutional that the ACNA parishes could still prevail under neutral principles of property ownership? If, so there are some rather huge legal hurdles for TEC and DioVA to clear.
palagious,
My understanding of the case is that if the Virginia Supreme Court holds the Statute unconstitutional, the case would be remanded back to Fairfax County for additional hearings on neutral principles. However,
Judge Bellows has answered all the issues that have been raised in the appeal in a very thoughtful and concise manner in over 200 pages of legal opinions. Because of the way he has written the opinions, it could be a hard sell to get the statute overturned and declared unconstitutional.