Judge Dismisses Scientologists' Suit Against Washington Post Associated Press, November 29, 1995 WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge has ruled that the Church of Scientology had no grounds to block The Washington Post from publishing excerpts from religious texts the church has tried to keep secret. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday that the church had filed against The Post over excerpts in a story Aug. 19 about litigation between the church and former members who posted the disputed texts on the Internet. "Obviously, we're very pleased with the judge's decision," said Mary Ann Werner, vice president and counsel for the newspaper. "The fact that she awarded us attorneys' fees is a very strong indication that she thought we had done nothing wrong." Scientology officials said they would await Brinkema's written opinion to decide whether to appeal. "Based on all the arguments we've seen, we are convinced the judge's ruling is necessarily wrong on the law," said Helena Kobrin, an attorney for the Religious Technology Center, an arm of the Church of Scientology. Brinkema has not yet ruled on a Scientology lawsuit against Arnaldo Lerma, a former church member from Arlington, Va., who published church texts on the Internet, or against Digital Gateway Systems, the company that gave Lerma access to the Internet. The church has filed three federal suits nationally in an effort to prevent dissidents from publishing its texts electronically. On Monday, a federal judge in San Jose, Calif., denied attempts by a computer bulletin board service to have another Scientology suit dismissed. The church argued that trade secrecy and copyright laws prohibit news organizations, church members and bulletin board services from disseminating secret church texts. It said the texts are confidential instructional materials for advanced members. But The Post based its story on 69 pages of advanced training material filed in federal court as part of a libel case against a former church member in Los Angeles.