Developer FAMvest’s attorneys are seeking the recusal of Muncy Township supervisor Terri Lauchle from every decision connected to their proposal — and in seeking that recusal are leveling serious allegations.

The attorneys allege that Lauchle’s resistance to the developers and their property rights is rooted in hostility to the owners’ “ethnic background.”

Two of the owners of FAMvest immigrated to the United States from Iran as children, escaping the tyranny of the Iranian revolution and the dictatorship it installed.

We don’t know if courts will find the allegations credible — though we might be remiss if we didn’t note that earlier opposition to FAMvest hinged on an absurd conspiracy theory about illegal immigrants hidden in the shuttered Lycoming Mall property, a conspiracy theory conservative elected officials within our county government discounted due to the lack of evidence — evidence that years later has yet to materialize. And we might be remiss if we didn’t note that at least one other critic of the developer has, on at least two occasions, brought up the ethnicity and immigrant status of these FAMvest owners — two details that were and still are completely irrelevant.

FAMvest’s proposal for the old mall property has practical implications — if successful it could create hundreds of jobs and revitalize communities and a school district.

But there also are important matters of principle — that in America, all men and women are created equal and endowed by God with liberties — including property rights and the right to pursue economic opportunity.

Attempts to thwart those liberties because of the race, ethnicity or religion of those seeking to exercise them is inherently anti-American.

We sincerely hope the court proceedings are able to unravel and understand what truly is happening — and if the courts determine that, in fact, an official is hindering the rights of a property owner because of their ethnicity, we hope our courts rectify such anti-American behavior.