Alliance Defense Fund

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys together with allied attorneys representing Wisconsin Family Action officers and board members filed suit in state court Wednesday to stop the governor and state legislature from skirting a voter-approved constitutional amendment protecting marriage. The lawsuit asks the court to halt the state’s “domestic partnership” scheme because it creates a legal status substantially similar to that of marriage, which directly violates Article 13, Section 13, of the Wisconsin Constitution.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys are reviewing all options for appeal of a ruling issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit that struck down roadside memorials to fallen Utah state troopers as unconstitutional. The 10th Circuit reversed a district court ruling in American Atheists v. Davenport that upheld the memorial crosses. ADF attorneys say the reversal is regrettable in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a separate case that indicates such memorials might be constitutional.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have received assurance from legal counsel for the Alabama Community College System that it will no longer demand that a private divinity college and seminary cease offering all of its associate and bachelor programs in religion, ministry, theological studies, and Bible. Letters sent by ADF on behalf of Bethany Divinity College and Seminary outlined how the college is officially exempt from government intrusion and regulation of its religious programs, and that any attempt by the state to alter or revoke its degree programs would be unconstitutional and in conflict with state law.

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Monday put the brakes on an Aug. 18 implementation date for U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s order overthrowing the will of 7 million California voters with regard to marriage.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing Allen County say that a court order denying most of an abortion provider’s motion to stop critical aspects of a new Patient Safety Ordinance means those provisions can go into effect and that the door is open for other Indiana counties to enact similar legislation.

The Alliance Defense Fund sent the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education a letter Thursday debunking false claims made by the American Civil Liberties Union that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows the district to deny the Boy Scouts access to its public school campuses. In its letter, the ACLU misrepresented the ruling and urged the district to jettison the Scouts from its campuses, potentially placing the district in danger of civil rights violations. The ACLU objects to a Boy Scouts policy, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, not to choose leaders who engage in homosexual behavior.

The Alliance Defense Fund is issuing the following statement regarding a federal judge’s decision Thursday to deny a motion filed by the ProtectMarriage.com legal team to stay the Aug. 4 decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. His order does not go into effect until Aug. 18.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Putnam County Library on behalf of an author whom officials denied access to a public meeting room for a discussion about a Christian book she wrote. Library officials told Ilene Vick that the meeting rooms could not be used for anything religious because library policy forbids it.

The Alliance Defense Fund is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to rehear a ruling that allows Southeastern Louisiana University to continue enforcement of a permit requirement and two-hours-per-week “free speech” policy against an outside Christian speaker while his lawsuit proceeds in court.

The following excerpts are from the federal district court opinion issued in Perry v. Schwarzenegger on Wednesday, which declared the California constitutional amendment affirming marriage as the union of one man and one woman unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution:

The city of Woodruff adopted an invocations policy Tuesday recommended by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, which ensures local officials can continue their constitutionally protected practice of prayer before public meetings despite recent threats from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Last month, ADF, in cooperation with area lawyers who are part of the nearly 1,800 attorneys in the ADF alliance, sent letters to three local governments in South Carolina, including Woodruff, offering to legally defend them for free if they are attacked in court over valid invocations policies.

A federal court issued a decision and order Thursday that allows the Greece Town Board, represented by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, to open public meetings with prayer. Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the town on behalf of two residents who objected to the practice.

Attorneys representing ProtectMarriage.com will appeal a federal judge's decision Wednesday that declared California's voter-approved constitutional amendment protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution.  Alliance Defense Fund attorneys are litigating the lawsuit, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, together with lead counsel Charles J. Cooper and ADF-allied attorney Andrew Pugno, who represent the official proponents and campaign committee of California's Proposition 8.

Alliance Defense Fund allied attorneys filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday in a significant Pennsylvania parental rights case. The appeal asks the court to determine whether a state that permits any legal stranger to seek custody of a child over the objections of the child’s fit parents violates the parents’ constitutional right to raise their own children.

Two groups representing thousands of attorneys nationwide are disputing claims by the American Bar Association that it speaks for the legal profession in its plans to endorse same-sex “marriage” later this week. Attorneys associated with the Alliance Defense Fund and National Lawyers Association point out that about three-quarters of American lawyers don’t even belong to the ABA, and many actively work to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed an opening brief Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of school choice in Arizona. The brief asks that the suit be dismissed because the opponents have not proven that they have suffered any legal injury that would give them standing to sue over the state’s tuition tax credit program. Arizona’s program, like many others across the country, merely allows state residents to claim a tax credit for donations to private organizations that provide scholarships to private schools.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a motion for preliminary injunction Thursday on behalf of Christ Liberty Family Life Center to stop the city of Avondale Estates from enforcing a discriminatory zoning ordinance while a lawsuit filed July 23 moves forward. Restrictions in the ordinance, many of which do not apply to non-religious organizations, have forced the small congregation to stop meeting on its leased property and relocate to various inferior locations, resulting in plummeting attendance and causing cancellation of numerous ministries, outreaches, and functions.

The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana confirmed to Alliance Defense Fund attorneys Thursday that it will once again allow popular professor Dr. Kenneth Howell to teach on Catholicism after recently firing him for explaining the Roman Catholic Church’s position on human sexual behavior to members of his class.

The Alliance Defense Fund has officially been granted special consultative status at the United Nations. This status will allow ADF attorneys to attend and intervene at treaty and convention drafting meetings and help craft language that affirms religious freedom, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys will appeal a problematic federal court decision issued Monday in a lawsuit filed on behalf of student Julea Ward against Eastern Michigan University after it kicked out the Christian student for holding to her beliefs.  EMU dismissed Ward from its graduate counseling program in March 2009 for not affirming homosexual behavior as morally acceptable.  Ward would not agree to change her religious beliefs about homosexual behavior or express a message contrary to them during counseling sessions as a condition to receiving a degree.