Ward v. ConnorWard v. Connor
Upon this appeal we are asked to decide whether
Thomas Joseph Ward, a 28 year old member of the Unification Church, charged in his complaint that while en route to an airport to begin a trip from Virginia to New York, he was kidnapped, held captive, and subjected to physical and psychological abuse by his parents and others acting in concert with them during an attempt to “deprogram” him of his religious beliefs. Acting upon the defendants’ 12(b)(6) motion, the district court dismissed three counts of the plaintiff‘s eight count complaint. Included in the counts dismissed was the one with which we are here concerned in which Ward alleged that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights. Jurisdiction for this count was invoked under
Expressing doubt that
In addressing the question, our starting point is, of course, Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 91 S.Ct. 1790, 29 L.Ed.2d 338 (1971), in which the Court abandoned the state action requirement announced in Collins v. Hardyman, 341 U.S. 651, 71 S.Ct. 937, 95 L.Ed. 1253 (1951), and held that
The constitutional shoals that would lie in the path of interpreting
§ 1985(3) as a general federal tort law can be avoided by giving full effect to the congressional purpose by requiring, as an element of the cause of action, the kind of invidiously discriminatory motivation stressed by the sponsors of the limiting amendment. * * * The language requiring intent to deprive of equal protection, or equal privileges and immunities, means that there must be some racial, or perhaps otherwise class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus behind the conspirator‘s action.
Id., at 102, 91 S.Ct. at 1798.
As we have noted, the principal question before us is whether a religious group which is the object of the discriminatory animus may be deemed a class falling within the ambit of
Certainly, referring to the “equal and impartial course of justice” mentioned in the second section of the third page. This obstruction of the equal and impartial course of justice, however, must under the provisions of all this bill, go so far as to deny and withhold from citizens of the United States that equality of protection in seeking justice which the Constitution of the United States gives them. We do not undertake in this bill to interfere with what might be called a private conspiracy growing out of a neighborhood feud of one man or set of men against another to prevent one getting an indictment in the State courts against men for burning down his barn; but, if in a case like this, it should appear that this conspiracy was formed against this man because he was a Democrat, if you please, or because he was a Catholic, or because he was a Methodist, * * * then this section could reach it. Cong.Globe, 42d Congress, 1st Sess. 567 (1871).
In the ten years since Griffin was decided, the Court has not had occasion to consider a definitive extension of the protected classes. However, the lower federal courts have, almost without exception, extended the coverage of the statute to religious groups. Marlowe v. Fisher Body, 489 F.2d 1057 (6 Cir. 1973); Action v. Gannon, 450 F.2d 1227 (8 Cir. 1971); Rankin v. Howard, 457 F.Supp. 70 (D.Ariz.1978); Baer v. Baer, 450 F.Supp. 481 (N.D.Cal.1978). And those courts which have denied relief to nonsectarian classes have generally by way of dictum recognized that religious groups are entitled to its protection. See Western Telecasters, Inc. v. California Federation of Labor, 415 F.Supp. 30, 33 (S.D.Cal.1976); Arnold v. Tiffany, 359 F.Supp. 1034, 1036 (C.D.Cal.1973); aff‘d on other grounds, 487 F.2d 216 (9 Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 984, 94 S.Ct. 1578, 39 L.Ed.2d 881 (1974). In the light of these cases and the legislative history, we think it reasonable to conclude that religious discrimination, being akin to invidious racial bias, falls within the ambit of
Having concluded that Ward‘s complaint satisfies the requisite elements of a
The district court also concluded that since the parents of the plaintiff were motivated to act by their concern for the well-being of their son, the requisite discriminatory class bias was absent. While we do not quarrel with the court‘s assumption in regard to such parental concern, the complaint sufficiently charges that the defendants were motivated to act as they did not only because they found the plaintiff‘s religious beliefs intolerable, but also because of their animosity towards the members of the Unification Church. This, in our opinion, stated a discriminatory motive sufficient to support a claim under the statute.
In the light of the foregoing, we have no alternative but to reverse the action of the district court in its dismissal of count 1 of the plaintiff‘s complaint.
REVERSED.
Notes
If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire or go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another, for the purpose of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws; * * * in any case of conspiracy set forth in this section, if one or more persons engaged therein do, or cause to be done, any act in furtherance of the object of such conspiracy, whereby another is injured in his person or property, or deprived of having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States, the party so injured or deprived may have an action for the recovery of damages, occasioned by such injury or deprivation, against any one or more of the conspirators.