On September 11, 2025, FFRF filed an amicus brief with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case Davis v. Guerrero, challenging the state of Texas’ unconstitutional use of a defendant’s religious beliefs at sentencing. Texas prosecutors introduced evidence at sentencing that the defendant read satanic literature and was briefly a member in the Church of Satan. The jury then sentenced Davis to death. Texas implicitly argued that since some satanists committed violence in the name of Satan, Davis was a future danger. Since Davis is entitled to a sentencing hearing that is free of religious bias, FFRF contends that Davis’ death sentence should be vacated.
FFRF outlines three main arguments in its brief. First, Texas was hostile to a minority religion and violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause by using Davis’ religious beliefs as a factor in sentencing him to death. Second, inviting a jury to determine core tenets of a religion excessively entangles the government with that religion, violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. In doing this, the penalty hearing was transformed into an unconstitutional heresy trial. And third, the state’s evidence cited in the case is true of nearly any religion, and was introduced for shock value.
This brief was drafted by FFRF Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi with assistance from Staff Attorney Samantha Lawrence.
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