A.S. Haley: Trial in South Carolina: ECUSA’s Witness again Barred from Rendering Undisclosed Opinions

July 21, 2014

Why are ECUSA and its attorneys so incapable of following the rules? Could it be that the lawlessness of 815, as aided and abetted by its attorneys, has now infected ECUSA's ability to present a civil case under the rules of court in South Carolina?

From first appearances, that would seem to be the only conclusion to draw from today's proceedings. First, let me use the account from the Episcopal Diocese's Press Office to provide the necessary background for what I shall go on to explain, and then I will put things into context:

DAY 10: DIOCESE OF SC v. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

TEC Attorney Admits TEC Constitution Does Not Prevent a Diocese From Leaving the Denomination

Judge Refuses to Consider Evidence about Whether TEC is Hierarchical

ST. GEORGE, SC, JULY 21, 2014 – An attorney for The Episcopal Church on Monday acknowledged that – despite TEC’s repeated claim that dioceses may not leave the denomination – there is nothing in the group’s constitution that specifically prohibits such a disassociation.

“It’s true it doesn’t say whether a diocese in the U.S. can or cannot [leave],” said Mary Kostel, attorney for TEC. “It’s arguably ambiguous.” [Ed. Note: Ms. Kostel could scarcely expect that such an outlandish remark on her part should be allowed to pass without editorial comment. What she is saying is that the absence of a specific prohibition in a governing document makes it somehow ambiguous as to whether or not the drafters still meant to prohibit the act they specifically did not prohibit. Example: The First Amendment does not contain any express language about a person's "freedom to disassociate from a group." So such a "right" must be "ambiguous" -- because it was not made express in the language of the Amendment -- and thus whether such a right actually exists is up to Congress to decide. Contrary to Ms. Kostel, what the courts have always held is that the First Amendment's "freedom to associate" necessarily embraces a corresponding "freedom to disassociate." The question of "ambiguity" in such a case does not even rise to the point of being debatable.]  the rest

Another excerpt:
...I almost never link to this site because of its many factual and legal distortions, all dressed up in rather spiteful bias, but today I shall make an exception. Steve Skardon has on his Website a remarkable first-person account of how yesterday went, viewed from the standpoint of a remnant Episcopalian who senses that things are not going well, and is struggling to understand why. If he could just see how ECUSA and its attorneys behave as though "the rules are made for other folk, not for us," he might -- in light of his own personal experience with Judge Goodstein which he recounts for the reader's benefit -- begin to get a glimmer of why that attitude does not sit well in her courtroom...