Houston mayor drops church subpoenas

Houston Chronicle (Katherine Driessen & Mike Morris) reports:

The city of Houston will withdraw its controversial subpoenas of five pastors tied to a lawsuit over the city's equal rights ordinance, Mayor Annise Parker announced at a news conference Wednesday….

Parker last week had left the subpoenas in place with narrower wording, removing any mention of "sermons." However, Parker said two Tuesday meetings, one with local pastors and another with national clergy, persuaded her to pull the subpoenas altogether.

The move is in the best interest of Houston, she said, and is not an admission that the requests were in any way illegal or intended to intrude on religious liberties….

Read the Houston Chronicle piece for more details. I discussed the legal issues raised by such subpoenas here and here. Thanks to Jim Bell for the pointer.