Free Republic

Rest of title: at Capitol Visitors Center A conservative civil liberties group is urging the dismissal of a lawsuit by an atheist group that wants to remove engravings of "In God We Trust" (the national motto) and "under God" (from the Pledge of Allegiance) from a display in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has filed an amicus brief in federal court on behalf of itself and 44 Republicans in the Senate and House seeking dismissal of the lawsuit. The brief argues that neither reference to God violates the Establishment Clause of the...

A federal court in New Hampshire has tossed a lawsuit against school districts in that state alleging that they improperly coerced children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, a decision that the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented members of Congress in an amicus brief, praised. "We’re extremely pleased with the sound and well reasoned decision issued by the court – a decision that rejects another attempt to rewrite history by targeting the Pledge and the phrase 'under God,'" said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, yesterday. Michael Newdow

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2009 Dear America, The White House has entered dangerous territory - blatantly targeting the free speech rights of those who oppose President Obama's policy choices. In a nutshell, write a ''fishy'' email ... one like this ... and you'll be ''flagged.'' Worse still, the White House takes it one outrageous step further - actually urging Americans to report on their neighbors, family, and friends who disagree with the President on health care. With your immediate support, doubled in impact through our STAND FOR LIFE Matching Challenge, we will continue calling on President Obama to protect free...

It is amazing that people are writting to this site and saying there is no need for a snitch to write in, they are not afraid in the least to identify themselved as non-believers in the way he has handled healthcare or the bailout programs.

He sounds very positive - predicting 6-1 or 7-0 in favor of Prop. 8.

It was an important and impressive vote in the Senate.  By a vote of 87-11, the Senate approved an amendment by Senator Jim DeMint which prohibits the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine and requiring broadcasters - including Christian broadcasters - always air both sides of a controversial issue.While this is an important victory, it is Round One.  Also in the Senate yesterday, an amendment by Senator Dick Durbin was approved by a much closer vote, 57-41 - an amendment that attempts to promote 'diversity' in media ownership.That amendment is still of concern to those who support broadcast freedom -...

The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) is making legal game plans to combat the mislabeled "Fairness Doctrine" should it be revived. For years, the Fairness Doctrine -- which was introduced in the U.S. in 1949 and then abolished by the FCC in 1987 -- forced radio and television stations to offer differing views on various subjects, which basically squelched the talk formats. ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow claims that basically amounted to censorship. "I use the example that we didn't go on the air until 1988 -- after the Fairness Doctrine was removed," says Sekulow. "So the reality...

The U.S. Senate has taken action that could mean a legal battle royal over the stimulus bill. The Senate rejected an amendment offered by Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) that would have stripped language from the stimulus bill that would force colleges and universities to throw religious clubs off campus if the schools receive federal funds. (See earlier article) Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law & Justice had this reaction. "Well, not only is it disappointing, it's almost a throwback to litigation that we conducted in the 1980s that we won unanimously at the Supreme Court," he says....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ON CAPITOL HILL Stimulus to ban religious worship 'This isn't like a convenient oversight, this is intentional' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: February 06, 2009 11:50 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily President Obama's proposed economic stimulus plan makes a deliberate - and unconstitutional - attempt to censor religious speech and worship on school campuses across the nation, according to a lawyer who argued related cases before the U.S. Supreme Court 20 years ago and won them all. "This isn't like a convenient oversight. This is intentional. This legislation pokes its finger in the eyes of people who hold religious...

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama’s economic stimulus bill would forbid colleges -- both religious and secular -- from receiving stimulus funds to improve facilities that are used for religious purposes. The provision is found in the Higher Education Modernization, Renovation and Repair section (Sec. 9302) of both the House and Senate versions of the bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. According to the provision, none of funds of the $6 billion allotted to the renovation, modernization, or repair of college buildings may be used for facilities “(i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or school department of divinity;...

Update: Troubling Changes in Washington If there was any doubt about how aggressively the new President would move to implement his agenda on social and family issues, it has vanished on the first full day of his Administration. At 12:01 p.m. Tuesday, literally the instant the transition was official, President Obama’s official White House website was updated to reflect new policies favoring abortion and opposing the traditional definition of marriage. Our Government Affairs team reports that the scope of expected changes on these issues looks to be sweeping. A few of the more troubling potential changes to be enacted in...

We made an emergency trip to the Middle East the day after Christmas. I am leading a team of ACLJ and ECLJ lawyers and Government Affairs staff on a critical matter involving Christian persecution in the Gaza Strip. We had no idea when we left that we would be literally flying into a war zone. For the past several months, we’ve been working on a very sensitive case involving Christian persecution by Hamas. Christian persecution is nothing new in this area, but under Hamas, the regime has been particularly brutal towards Christians. A year ago, the owner of the Christian...

The Supreme Court of the United States – in a 7-2 decision – upheld the constitutionality of the Protect Act of 2003 – a federal law that gives prosecutors new tools to target those who market and pander in online child pornography. This is a significant victory that moves to protect the most vulnerable in our society – our children. And, it is a victory for Congress, which has spent many years trying to come up with a law that would punish those responsible for the ever-increasing problem of child pornography on the Internet and clear constitutional hurdles – efforts...

By a vote of 4-3, the California Supreme Court struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage – changing the definition of marriage by judicial fiat. The decision is a disappointing one and represents another example of an activist judiciary that overreached by taking this issue out of the hands of the state legislature where it belongs. The California high court failed to uphold what the state legislature and an overwhelming majority of California voters clearly understand – that the institution of marriage is limited to one man and one woman.

A community college in New York has been presented with a demand letter from the American Center for Law and Justice to halt a professor's classroom practices that allegedly have damaged at least one student – so far. The letter from the ACLJ targets Suffolk County Community College and will be the prelude to a federal lawsuit if the issue isn't resolved, the organization said. At issue is a professor's demand that students "change their own personal viewpoints or state that they are unsure of whether their own personal beliefs are correct" on religious issues, according to the letter. That...

Washington, DC) – The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, said today it is demanding that a community college in New York end its hostility toward a Christian student who has been punished because of her religious beliefs. The ACLJ represents Gina DeLuca, a student at Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), who has received lower grades and has been labeled “closed-minded” by a professor who requires students to acknowledge the possibility that God does not exist in order to participate in a philosophy class. The ACLJ has sent a letter demanding that the school end...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether a religious group must be allowed to put its monument in a city park near a similar Ten Commandments display. The justices agreed to hear an appeal by the city, Pleasant Grove in Utah, arguing that a lower-court ruling for the religious group could affect whether cities around the nation must display privately donated monuments on public property. The Summun religious group, founded in Salt Lake City in 1975, sought to erect a monument to the tenets of its faith, called the "Seven Aphorisms," in a...

First off thanks in advance. I have a grand daughter that has been taken by the state of Maine, And have done so against the family wishes. I need any website or lawyers that can be of help, I do have a call into the aclj Please keep this thread up I need your input.

Legal Group Pushes to Defund Planned Parenthood By Penny Starr CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer March 07, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - The American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative organization in Washington, D.C., has launched an aggressive petition drive to end all federal funding of Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in America, which receives nearly $300 million each year in taxpayer dollars. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ, said part of the inspiration for the petition drive came from recent articles by Cybercast News Service on Planned Parenthood. "In part, the story about Teenwire.com created a whole new level...

CNSNews.com) - A conservative civil liberties group said it will proceed with a lawsuit against the Portland, Maine, School Committee for refusing the reconsider its policy on prescription contraceptives for middle school students as young as 11. "This is an issue where the rights of parents must be protected," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which specializes in constitutional law. "This is not only bad public policy but a violation of state law that simply cannot be ignored. There is tremendous outrage and disgust over the Committee's usurpation of parental responsibility to...

I was listening to Jay Seculo's radio show on Christian radio today, and for two days in a row, they mentioned Duncan Hunter. Today they said that Duncan Hunter, who worked with them (aclj.org) in keeping the Mt. Soledad Cross standing, is in the process of crafting legislation that would take away from Columbia University some of the federal funding because they allowed Ahmadinejad on the stage. You can hear the comments about Duncan Hunter for yourself, by clicking the link. It is at the beginning of the show, and the rest of the show is also excellent regarding Columbia...

In this time, when bad news and ominous portent is so rampant, I can't resist passing along especially great news when it comes my way. Sometimes the din of despair – about hurricanes, earthquakes, economic downturns, accelerating terrorist threats, vast numbers of illegal aliens, health care and looming Social Security insolvency, melting ice caps, droughts, floods, unprecedented low approval ratings for Congress and the president – is almost deafening. And certainly disheartening! Furthermore, in my new memoir, "Pat Boone's America: 50 Years," I express my deep and growing concern about our moral drift and the obvious decline in our culture's...

Last week's decision by the 9th Circuit Court to remove a solitary Roman cross from a World War I veterans memorial in California's Mojave Desert has drawn an angry response from the American Legion, a major association of U.S. veterans. "Today's lawyers and judges are outlawing the values and religious symbols that the Founding Fathers revered and proclaimed as the very foundation of the American republic," Conatser, head of the 2.7 million-member American Legion, said in a recent press release. "Today it's a memorial. Tomorrow, these same judges can order the removal of crosses on veterans gravestones, the dismissal of...

There are people in your community that so hate what you have to say, they are willing to put a gun to your head to stop you from speaking; even if they have to do so vicariously using the police powers of government. They hate it when you talk about God. They hate it when you pray. They hate to see you reading your bible. And they absolutely hate it when you share these in a public forum. Their hatred of God and His word has so filled their hearts, they want you silenced. Senate Bill S.1105 is the so-called...

In the early days of inter-continental ballistic missiles the only deterrent to them was known as the anti-inter-continental ballistic missile. In this day of ACLU wrangling and Christian bashing the top anti-intercontinental ballistic missile for religious freedoms in America is the ACLJ, hands down.

In the early days of continental ballistic missiles the only deterrent to them was known as the anti-continental ballistic missile. In this day of ACLU wrangling and Christian bashing the top anti-intercontinental ballistic missile for religious freedoms in America is the ACLJ, hands down.

Protect Unborn Babies The moment the Supreme Court of the United States issued a partial-birth abortion decision — ruling on the side of LIFE — Senate and House liberals began to cry foul. In a serious attempt to undercut the highest court of our land and thwart the pro-life movement, Rep. Nadler and Sens. Clinton, Schumer, and Boxer introduced legislation, the "Freedom of Choice" Act, that would overturn the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and prohibit any future congressional endeavor to protect the life of the unborn on a federal level. It is a selfish, political play by House and Senate...

WASHINGTON, November 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Moments after the hearing of oral arguments in the partial-birth abortion case before the United States Supreme Court today, a pro-life lawyer involved in the case is predicting a "major victory". Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), said that he is convinced the ban on partial birth abortion will be ruled constitutional. The ACLJ has filed amicus briefs in both cases before the Supreme Court - including one on behalf of some 80 members of Congress - including the sponsors of the federal ban on the gruesome...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life law firm has filed a brief with the Supreme Court in the case concerning the Congressional-approved ban on partial-birth abortions. The American Center for Law and Justice told the court to reject the argument made by abortion advocates that abortion is safer than childbirth.After President Bush signed the partial-birth abortion ban, pro-abortion groups launched three lawsuits against it and federal appeals courts in Nebraska, New York and California declared the ban unconstitutional.The ACLJ has already filed a brief in the Nebraska case and submitted papers in the California case on Thursday.“Yet again we see...

Religious Right Power Brokers The Top Ten by Rob BostonThe United States is home to dozens of Religious Right groups. Many have small budgets and focus on state and local issues; the most powerful organizations conduct nationwide operations, command multi-million-dollar bank accounts and attract millions of followers. They have disproportionate clout in the halls of Congress, the White House and the courts, and they wield enormous influence within the political system.What follows is a list of the nation’s Top Ten Religious Right groups, as determined by publicly available financial data and political prominence. (For budgetary data, Church & State used...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Supreme Court is set to revisit a second Bush Administration appeal that seeks to reinstate a ban on partial birth abortion, reports the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). The ACLJ, which specializes in constitutional law, said it is pleased the Supreme Court has decided to hear the case, which involves the constitutionality of the national ban on partial-birth abortion. “The Supreme Court took a significant step today that clearly puts the issue of partial-birth abortion front-and-center,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, which litigates pro-life issues. “By taking...

Stop the ACLU! The ACLU has done it again. In their campaign to rid our country of every vestige of God and Christianity, they have convinced a federal judge to order the removal of a cross from San Diego’s Mount Soledad memorial to heroes of the Korean War. We must fight back to save this religious symbol from demolition! Please read the form carefully and declare your membership with the ACLJ by signing the Petition below. Petition to Save San Diego’s Mount Soledad Cross President George W. Bush Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego U.S....

Below is a copy of an e-mail I received from the ACLJ concerning the efforts of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (Americans United for Communism ;-), "Humble Howard" Dean and others to stop our Priests, Pastors, Ministers and others from silencing our churches on speaking out on issues of Morality and other issues of the day, which any church should have the freedom to discuss without fear of losing their tax-exempt status. This Petition supports H.R. 235, the "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act." The ACLJ is not asking for donations to sign this...

Congressman Sees Progress in Military Prayer Issue Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 Posted: 9:18:27AM EST The lawmaker leading a congressional drive against Air Force guidelines encouraging non-sectarian prayers in certain situations is confident that the White House is looking into the matter, according to the legislator’s spokeswoman. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) discussed the contested military policy last Thursday with President Bush’s Domestic Policy Advisor Claude Allen, and was confident that the matter would receive more attention within the Bush administration. “The Congressman was very pleased, because he felt that [Allen] had a good grasp of the issue,” said spokeswoman Kathleen Joyce....

EAST WINDSOR -- Santa will be back in the schools next year. After they noticed that Christmas decorations were being removed from the schools, a couple of parents approached the schools superintendent, suggesting that his interpretation of a letter sent by the Anti-Defamation League was wrong....After consulting the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, LaMonde said, they found that federal court precedents do allow such things as singing Christmas carols with religious themes and displaying religious symbols during Christmas. They also learned that teachers can discuss the origins of the symbols in a historical context. Superintendent of Schools Joseph...

A pattern of hostility to free speech - specifically the rights of Christians to pray - is on the rise in our country. We saw it in our nation’s public schools ... where prayer was officially banned. We have seen it in our workplaces. Now, our United States military seems to have “jumped on the bandwagon” ... with Air Force leadership recently releasing proposed guidelines that will restrict how Air Force chaplains can pray. If approved, these guidelines may well be implemented throughout the entire Armed Forces. This is an outrage that we cannot allow! Already, it is documented that...

WASHINGTON, December 22, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) issued a report today on efforts to protect the constitutional right of U.S. military chaplains to pray according to their faith. 160,000 people from across the United States have signed on to a national petition urging President Bush to enact an Executive Order protecting the constitutional rights of military chaplains to pray according to their faith. The petition campaign is in conjunction with efforts underway in Congress – spearheaded by Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina – urging President Bush to act. ACLJ states that “Military...

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) announced today that legal action is underway in defense of two pharmacists who were fired for refusing to hand out abortifacient drugs. “These Conscience Clause cases are significant and represent the cutting edge of the abortion debate in our country right now;” ACLJ said in a statement to the press. “Doctors, nurses and pharmacists should not be compelled to violate their conscience and participate in an abortion procedure. We have already had success in a number of cases around the country, and we are confident that we will succeed in Illinois as...

To pray -- or not to pray -- in Jesus' name is the question plaguing an increasing number of U.S. military chaplains, one of whom began a multiday hunger strike outside the White House yesterday. "I am a Navy chaplain being fired because I pray in Jesus' name," said Navy Lt. Gordon Klingenschmitt, who will be holding 6 p.m. prayer vigils daily in Lafayette Park. The hunger strike is intended to persuade President Bush to issue an executive order allowing military chaplains to pray according to their individual faith traditions. The American Center for Law and Justice has gathered 173,000...

A U.S. appeals court today upheld the decision of a lower court in allowing the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse display, hammering the American Civil Liberties Union and declaring, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state." Attorneys from the American Center for Law and Justice successfully argued the case on behalf of Mercer County, Ky., and a display of historical documents placed in the county courthouse. The panel voted 3-0 to reject the ACLU's contention the display violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The county display the ACLU sued...

Looks like it could be interesting.

This morning I have authorized the filing of briefs to the U.S. District Court on behalf of the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico. As you will recall, several weeks ago members of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Las Cruces city seal. That seal depicts three crosses as part of its presentation. When translated into English, “Las Cruces” actually means “the crosses.” AU and its allies have made the determination to remove this reference to the religious heritage of New Mexico. Below is the content of a letter that I...

WASHINGTON, November 22, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After almost 20 years of harassing litigation, the case of National Organization for Women v. Scheidler, Operation Rescue and three other pro-life defendants is heading back to the US Supreme Court for an unprecedented third time. With oral arguments scheduled to take place on Nov. 30 at the high court, at issue is a federal appeals court decision that purported to reopen the case despite the Supreme Court's complete rejection of NOW's lawsuit in 2003. “We are hopeful that the high court will reinforce what it said two years ago and finally bring this...

A pattern of hostility to free speech - specifically the rights of Christians to pray - is on the rise in our country. We saw it in our nation’s public schools ... where prayer was officially banned. We have seen it in our workplaces. Now, our United States military seems to have “jumped on the bandwagon” ... with Air Force leadership recently releasing proposed guidelines that will restrict how Air Force chaplains can pray. If approved, these guidelines may well be implemented throughout the entire Armed Forces. This is an outrage that we cannot allow! Already, it is documented that...

Ninety members of Congress filed a brief yesterday with a federal appeals court declaring support for the U.S. Defense Department in its sponsorship of the Boy Scouts of America's national jamboree. The department's backing of the quadrennial event, attended this year by more than 40,000 Scouts, was opposed in a 1999 lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU contends federal government sponsorship violates the First Amendment, because the Boy Scouts require members to swear an oath to "do my duty to God and my country." The next jamboree is scheduled for 2010 to coincide with the 100th...

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago on Tuesday, November 8th, 2005, in Winkler v. Rumsfeld, a case involving the Boy Scouts of America. The brief was filed on behalf of the ACLJ as well as eighty-eight current members of the United States Congress. For almost sixty years, the United States military has provided supplies and services in support of the Boy Scouts' National Scout Jamboree held every four years. The military has supported the Boy Scouts because of their commitment to patriotism, good...

But there is another side to Jay Sekulow, one that, until now, has been obscured from the public. It is the Jay Sekulow who, through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle -- complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet [...][snip] That less-known side of Sekulow was revealed in several interviews with former associates of his and in hundreds of pages of court and tax documents reviewed by Legal Times. Critics say Sekulow's lifestyle is at...

Just the week before, Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, had cheerfully predicted that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers had “turned the corner” and would never withdraw her name from consideration. Now, a few hours after Miers proved him dead wrong, Sekulow sounded as upbeat as ever. “She did the noble thing,” Sekulow told the million-plus people listening to his daily radio show on Christian stations last Thursday, adding, confidentially, “I saw this coming.” The next nominee, he predicted, would be a sitting judge just as worthy of support as Miers. It was vintage...

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), specializing in constitutional law said today that a Senate questionnaire completed by Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers clearly shows that she is uniquely qualified to serve on the high court. "The responses to the questionnaire clearly show that the depth of real world experience — both in and out of the courtroom — uniquely qualifies Harriet Miers for a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. "After reviewing the 57-page questionnaire, it is clear that the judicial philosophy of Harriet Miers respects...

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), specializing in constitutional law said today that Harriet Miers, the nominee named by President Bush for a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States, is an excellent choice who represents the conservative mainstream of judicial philosophy of interpreting the Constitution, not re-writing it. “Once again, President Bush showed exceptional judgment in naming Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court to replace Justice O’Connor,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, who argues regularly before the high court and has a pro-life protest case at the high court this term. “At...