ACLU criticizes checks on ministers

Tuesday, March 20, 2001 | 10:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a legislative committee to repeal a law mandating background checks on ministers who want to perform marriages.

Allen Lichtenstein, attorney for the ACLU, said government should not be intruding into this area. Other states, he told the Assembly Judiciary Committee, do not require background investigations.

"This creates a constitutional issue," he said.

The controversy arose when Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre published new regulations for the background checks. She told the committee a minister must get a permit to perform weddings and must not have a felony conviction in the last 10 years.

She said that some ministers had been filling out their certificates for the marriage permit with false information. She said she "wanted to see all people treated the same."

Because of the opposition, she dropped the requirement for a background check and said she was advised by the district attorney's office that she might require ministers to sign affidavits that carry penalties if the statements are false.

Lichtenstein said it should not make any difference if the minister had a felony conviction. As an example, he cited Chuck Colson of President Richard Nixon's White House who spent time in prison for his involvement in Watergate and has now become a minister.

The background of the minister does not "affect the solemnity or durability of the marriage," Lichtenstein said.

The debate came on the bill to open up the marriage industry to allow wedding chapels to issue marriage licenses. Currently, licenses are issued only at the county clerk's office or its branch office.

George Flint, operator of a wedding chapel in Reno, said it would be an accommodation for a couple who want to be married. In Clark County, he said, the couples sometimes have to wait up to six hours before getting a license from the county clerk.

But Parraguirre told the committee that time has been cut to 30 minutes and it will be reduced further when the office receives personal computers in the next several months.

The committee did not take action on Assembly Bill 254.