Tag Archives: ADF: Media Clips

Jennifer Marshall at Heritage Foundation: But we have continued to give unique status in law to the union of a man and a woman—the only relationship that produces children—as a permanent, monogamous, and exclusive relationship. We uphold this ideal in the interest of children, of limited, constitutional government, and of America’s future. That’s a message Heritage will convey at an event today featuring Ryan Anderson, Kellie Fiedorek of the Alliance Defending Freedom, and tea party activist Doug Mainwaring, a gay man committed to maintaining the definition of marriage because of its importance for children. Tomorrow, we’ll be joining many other Americans gathering on the National Mall for the March for Marriage.

WGNTV.com Chicago: “Our most fundamental right in this country is the right to vote and the right to participate in the political process, ” said Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian advocacy group. “We don’t need the Supreme Court to take that right away from Americans of good faith on both sides of this issue and impose its judicial solution,” Nimocks told CNN’s State of the Union. “We need to leave this debate to the democratic process, which is working.”

NBC Nightly News reports on the litigation. Alliance Defending Freedom Attorney Austin R. Nimocks appears in the video.

Heritage Foundation (includes video): hose pressing the Supreme Court to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 essentially argue that marriage as we’ve always known it is not constitutional. But redefining marriage would make marriage about the desires of adults rather than the well-being of children. That was the takeaway from a media briefing Tuesday at the National Press Club featuring Heritage’s Ryan T. Anderson, Claremont Institute legal scholar John C. Eastman, and Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Austin R. Nimocks (who is also co-counsel in the Prop 8 case).

The News-Herald: Jim Campbell, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, which backs Proposition 8, stresses the political battle over gay marriage is “at some point in the middle. … The Supreme Court should resist demands to prematurely end the national debate.”

Christian Post: CBS’ “Face the Nation” came the closest to providing a balanced view. The discussion had three people in favor of same-sex marriage, NFL football player Brendon Ayanbadejo, Freedom to Marry’s Evan Wolfson and conservative columnist David Frum, and two people opposed to same-sex marriage, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and Alliance Defending Freedom’s Austin Nimocks. Host Bob Schieffer, though, did a better job than his colleagues at providing both sides about equal time. Also unlike the hosts on the other networks, Schieffer provided Nimocks and Perkins adequate time to present their arguments without interruption.

Religion Link: The Alliance Defense Fund opposes same-sex marriage and efforts to circumvent DOMA. Contact 480-444-0020 or email through the website.

Ypsilanti Carrier: Eastern Michigan University has been sued by the Alliance Defending Freedom after a student group was denied funding to create an exhibit comparing abortions to the Holocaust, according to a Detroit Free Press report. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group in Arizona, filed the lawsuit Tuesday.

Oakville.com: ”Groups like the U.S.-based Alliance Defending Freedom, says Paradis, have established a foothold in Europe to advocate strongly against abortion and LGBT rights.“The problem for national LGBT activists is that if they raise the human rights argument that has been so powerful in America, it gets thrown back in their faces — ‘You are just part of the western world, forcing outside values on us,’” she says.

The Eastern Echo: David Hacker, senior legal counsel for the ADF, said in the release, “The university funded the advocacy of other student organizations, but singled out Students for Life for exclusion based purely on its viewpoint.”

WFAA.com: CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.; Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry; Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council; Austin Nimocks, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom; Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo, an advocate of same-sex marriage.

Greg Baylor at Speak Up Movement: The freedom of religious student groups at America’s public universities is under constant attack. However, the Virginia legislature is the latest to fight bac

CNN: “DOMA’s important because Congress said it’s important,” said Austin Nimocks, senior counsel at the legal ministry Alliance Defending Freedom. “We sent our elected representatives to Washington, D.C., and they chose to say that marriage is one man and one woman for purposes of federal law.”

Florida Baptist Witness: Kellie Fiedorek, litigation counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), said this is a time of “great peril” for religious adherents. In particular, business owners with religious convictions about business, marriage and family are the targets of attacks for refusing to violate their beliefs, she said. “You couldn’t expect an African-American photographer to take a picture of a family who is in the KKK, who is going to wear long white robes and pointy hats,” Fiedorek said. “Similarly, you couldn’t expect a Jewish … baker to bake a cake with swastikas on it and have it say, ‘Happy Birthday to Hitler.’”

LifeSiteNews: Universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Senior Legal Counsel David Hacker in a statement. “The university funded the advocacy of other student organizations but singled out Students for Life for exclusion based purely upon its viewpoint.”

Mercury News: Join a moderated discussion at noon PDT on Monday, March 25, about Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Joining Bay Area News Group reporter Howard Mintz will be Byron Babione, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is helping defend Proposition 8 and supports the federal Defense of Marriage Act; and Christopher Stoll, a staff attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights. (email reminder signup at the link)

Faith and Freedom Blog: Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Michael J. Norton, a former US Attorney says, “Americans deserve to know, especially in economic times like these, if their hard earned tax money is being funneled to groups who are misusing it.”

Washington Blade: Kelly Frederick [Fiedorek] of the Alliance Defending Freedom said marriage and civil unions for same-sex couples in Massachusetts, D.C. and Illinois “forced” Catholic Charities in the three jurisdictions “out of the adoption business because of their religious beliefs.”

Fox News: “Universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said David Hacker, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom. “The university funded the advocacy of other student organizations but singled out Students for Life for exclusion based purely upon its viewpoint.”

Family Research Council: ADF Senior Counsel Michael Norton said, “Americans deserve to know, especially in economic times like these, if their hard-earned tax money is being funneled to groups that are misusing it.” Regardless of how policymakers feel about abortion, they should all agree that Planned Parenthood should be held to the same standards as everyone else who takes government funds. If Planned Parenthood can’t be trusted with the money it already has, why should Congress agree to more?

Charisma News: “Universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Senior Legal Counsel David Hacker. “The university funded the advocacy of other student organizations but singled out Students for Life for exclusion based purely upon its viewpoint.”

Alan Sears at Alliance Defending Freedom: The dangers posed more and more across America to the First Amendment protections of Christians like you – and your children – often show themselves in subtle ways. A small legal bias here, an evasion of religious freedom there, and those who would sideline people of faith gain one more crucial foothold of legal ground they can use to block the spread of the Gospel.

Matthew J. Franck at National Review: At the Daily Beast and the Jewish Daily Forward, writer Jay Michaelson has been touting a “report” he has published this week under the auspices of a Massachusetts-based outfit calling itself Political Research Associates.  The product of a little research, a fevered imagination, and extremely sloppy thinking, Michaelson’s report is titled “Redefining Religious Liberty: The Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights.”  His targets are the “right-wing” groups making what he claims are dangerous and disingenuous arguments on behalf of religious freedom.  These groups include the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the Alliance Defending Freedom, among others.

Carly Pildis at Policymic: The bill was inspired by the case of Julea Ward, who was expelled from Eastern Michigan University for refusing to counsel LGBT students. She sued the university with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group, with EMU agreeing to a settlement of $75,000.

The New American: ADF Senior Counsel Michael J. Norton, a former U.S. Attorney, said it is high time the American people get some clear answers on Planned Parenthood funding. “Americans deserve to know, especially in economic times like these, if their hard-earned tax money is being funneled to groups that are misusing it,” Norton said. “Compliance with the law should not be sacrificed for the sake of Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. They have cheated the American taxpayer for too long. It’s time the abortion giant is held accountable.”

9and10News (AP): The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defending Freedom on Tuesday filed the lawsuit in federal court in Detroit against the Ypsilanti school . . . David Hacker, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, says: “Universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas.” | See also Detroit Free Press: EMU sued over denial of funds for anti-abortion display

One News Now: In response, Alliance Defending Freedom‘s (ADF) Jeremy Tedesco tells American Family News his firm sent a letter to school districts in Illinois and Wisconsin last Friday, informing them that it is, in fact, constitutional to take advantage of the resources at the nearby church-run camp. “Freedom From Religion Foundation says Well, it’s a Christian-run camp; there’s Christian symbols up here and there reflecting this, and because of that, you can’t take them to this camp if you’re a public school,” the ADF attorney reports. “And that’s just blank hostility towards religion. The First Amendment doesn’t require that at all of public schools. It’s just a scare tactic from Freedom From Religion Foundation.”

Desert Sun (source: Detroit Free Press): Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona group that says it works to defend the civil rights of Christians and conservatives, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit . . . “Universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said David Hacker, attorney with the alliance.

LifeNews: Universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Senior Legal Counsel David Hacker. “The university funded the advocacy of other student organizations but singled out Students for Life for exclusion based purely upon its viewpoint.”

LifeSiteNews: Compliance with the law should not be sacrificed for the sake of Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. They have cheated the American taxpayer for too long,” said Senior Counsel Michael J. Norton, a former U.S. Attorney. “It’s time the abortion giant is held accountable.”

Christian Post: Austin Nimocks, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom who will serve as co-counsel defending Proposition 8 during oral arguments at the Supreme Court, agreed. “Those arguing for same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court are arguing that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right in the U.S. Constitution, which means that it is deeply rooted in our country’s history and traditions,” Nimocks said. “Our argument is very simple – that’s not true. “You can’t find in the history of our country and our Constitution a deeply rooted tradition and history of same-sex marriage. Marriage is what it has always been, since the beginning of time. The Supreme Court has acknowledged marriage 14 times in its prior jurisprudence. It has rejected a claim for same-sex marriage already, back in the 70s. And so, in no circumstances can our opponents make the constitutional case that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right in the U.S. Constitution.”

DFW Catholic: “Every American should be free to live and do business according to their faith,” said Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The government shouldn’t punish people of faith for following their beliefs when making decisions for themselves or their organizations. That’s why this lawsuit should not be casually dismissed as the Obama administration would like to see happen.”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys file third lawsuit to expose abortion giant’s mishandling of taxpayer dollars

CBN (includes video): Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Austin Nimocks is on the legal team defending traditional marriage before the High Court. “Marriage is what it has always been since the beginning of time: the union of a man and a woman,” he said. “That’s how the Supreme Court has acknowledged marriage 14 times in its prior jurisprudence.” But if the pro-gay side triumphs, Nimocks said what’s at stake is whether the American people themselves get to have the final say about what marriage is “or whether the Supreme Court is going to impose a radical new definition of marriage upon all 50 states and the four U.S. territories.” “Americans want to engage in this debate,” he continued. “We’ve been doing it for the last 10 years.” “Americans care about this, and what we need is for the Supreme Court to keep its hands off marriage right now,” he said. “Let Americans continue to debate this through our democratic institutions.”

Florida Baptist Witness: Alan Sears, president of Alliance Defending Freedom—a Christian legal group—applauded the election. “We join millions in congratulating Francis I on his selection as pope,” Sears said. “He is a leader who has stood strongly for the values of religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, marriage, and the family, often under very trying circumstances. We appreciate his many strong statements over the years on the protection of marriage and the unborn and trust he will continue to be a powerful voice on the deep importance of these issues.”

Matt Sharp on IQ 106.9 Philadelphia with Lionel and Michelle Murillo to discuss the case. | MP3 audio 5:57 mins

David Cortman on the Zeb Bell Show. Related Alliance Defending Freedom press release. | MP3 audio 11:30 mins

Salisbury Post: A fight few people want
Fayetteville attorney Bryce Neier with Alliance Defending Freedom told commissioners what they wanted to hear. The alliance helped Forsyth County fight a similar suit — unsuccessfully — and he seemed to urge Rowan to fight, too, saying it would be a tough case to litigate but not a hopeless one. No surprise there, either. Private organizations stepped forward to pay the legal bills for Forsyth’s five-year fight. Beyond that, the court decision also required the county to pay the plaintiff’s court bill, which was more than $248,000. But this is not about money, even though it’s objectionable for commissioners to use county money to fight their personal religious battles. The suit is about recognizing that we are a community of many denominations, faiths and creeds. | WSCOCTV: Rowan Co. Commissioners vote to hire attorney
Includes video and poll currently shows 82% support the move.

Salisbury Post (AP) (includes video): “Do I think we can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars? I certainly do, and I think there are people out there who will come forward with that money. We’re not prepared to accept money at this time, but those are decisions we’ll make later on how that will be handled.” . . . Vice Chairman Craig Pierce started the emergency meeting at 4:30 p.m. with a Christian invocation and commissioners quickly went into closed session to speak with county attorney Jay Dees. He was joined by attorney Bryce Neier of the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Myfox8.com: Bryce Neier, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, encouraged commissioners to stand up to the ACLU. He said their personal rights don’t get checked when they walk into a county commission meeting.a

Baptist Press (Alliance Defending Freedom video embedded): A prominent Christian legal group is urging believers nationwide to pray as the U.S. Supreme Court gets ready to decide the legal definition of marriage . . . Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has been heavily involved in defending the traditional definition of marriage, is in the midst of a “nine weeks of prayer for marriage” initiative that includes weekly downloadable printouts naming attorneys and Supreme Court justices for whom to pray.

Windy City Times: A network of conservative Christian organizations has successfully fought pro-choice and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) civil rights legislation by claiming that such policies infringe on “religious liberty,” according to a major new report released today. The report, by Dr. Jay Michaelson, Religious Liberty Fellow at Political Research Associates (PRA), is entitled Redefining Religious Liberty: The Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights . . . Key players in reframing the debate include the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). According to the report, these organizations, supported by Catholic organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, aim “not simply to win religious exemptions to the law, but to contest the authority of secular law itself.” They are allied with such conservative evangelical organizations as Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom . . . The report is available for download here www.politicalresearch.org/resources/reports/full-reports/redefining-religious-liberty/ . | Larger report on the same topic available at ValleyNewsLive via PR Newswire: As New Pope Inaugurated, New Report Exposes Catholic Church’s and Right’s ‘Religious Liberty’ Campaign Against Gay, Reproductive Rights

MO Family Policy Council: “The wisest course is for the Supreme Court to resist demands to prematurely end the national debate over the future of marriage,” says Austin Nimocks, who filed one of the pro-Proposition 8 briefs on behalf of the Alliance Defending Freedom. “Californians voted for marriage, and the court should respect their freedom to affirm the fundamental building block of our society.” “Marriage between a man and a woman is a bedrock social institution that diverse cultures and faiths have honored throughout the history of Western Civilization,” Nimocks continues. “The freedom of the people to uphold this vital institution should not be taken away.” . . . The Family Research Council has produced an excellent bulletin insert about the marriage issue which we strongly encourage you to use in your local church to promote awareness and prayer for this event. It can be downloaded by using the following link. You will find it as the first item listed under “Resources” on the web page: Stand for Marriage Bulletin Insert

WisPolitics includes part of this Alliance Defending Freedom press release and links to it.

Erik Stanley at Speak Up Movement: Forcing churches to stop hosting Scout troops is a big step in the process of sidelining churches. And we’ve seen enough attempts to render the Church irrelevant in the community.

Alan Sears at Alliance Defending Freedom: From Colorado comes yet another horror story illuminating the true nature of Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest and most politically powerful abortion provider, which actually prides itself on having helped to kill nearly a million babies over the last three years. While masquerading as a friend of women and a family-planning organization, this billion-dollar international corporation concentrates on meeting its ever-rising quota of abortions, and draws nearly 50 percent of its financial support from your tax dollars.

AP: A federal judge has struck down a Missouri law exempting moral objectors from mandatory birth control coverage because it conflicts with an insurance requirement under President Barrack Obama’s health care law . . . “The point of the law was to tell health insurance companies that they’re supposed to honor the wishes – pro or con – of people who have religious or ethical objections to what’s in the policy,” said Timothy Belz, a St. Louis attorney who represented Our Lady’s Inn. | Missouri Insurance Coalition v. Huff (E.D. Mo. March 14, 2013)

Ryan T. Anderson at Heritage Foundation (includes Jim DeMint video): Working with the National Organization for Marriage, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Family Research Council, Heritage has produced a short pamphlet making the case for marriage in everyday language. It helps you articulate what your heart knows.

One News Now: David Cortman is senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the lawsuit in March 2011 on behalf of the Barrett Elementary Center student. “In this day and age, when our younger students are subject to so much that comes from both the school district and outside sources, it’s certainly important that they’re able to speak about their own faith and not be subject to censorship for it,” he states.

Brett Harvey at Townhall: In 1992, the Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of public prayer. Justice Anthony Kennedy warned that when the government dictates that public prayers must be generic or avoid references that are unique to any particular faith, like referencing Jesus, it is constitutionally problematic.

AWR Hawkins at The University Bookman: Russell Kirk’s Redeeming the Time was published posthumously in 1996. And as its title suggests, it is a book about thinking and acting in light of moral constraints that demand something of us. In fact, if we boil the book down to its bedrock message, it is a book about morality and order—how the state and the individual flourish when morality and order are wedded but mutate into something unrecognizable when the two are torn apart. This is Kirk’s message: real freedom—not the postmodern “You do your thing, I’ll do mine”—is found at the point where transcendent, moral demands shake hands with self-order and constitutional constraint.

Steve Williams at Care2.com: However, neither Deberry or Hohenwald authored the bill. Conservative David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, drafted both versions of the bill with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom, formally the Alliance Defense Fund, whose anti-gay agenda is well established. The ADF represented a Michigan student named Julea Ward who was expelled from a master’s degree program at Eastern Michigan University for refusing to counsel gay clients or clients who were sexually involved with someone but weren’t married. Ward received a $75,000 settlement last year. Another student, self-avowed devoted Christian Jennifer Keeton . . .

Think Progress: This is the old “fatherless” canard, in which the conclusions from studies about single mothers are used to argue against committed lesbian parents, even though not one of these “fatherless” studies included a same-sex couple. If Will had thoroughly read the full decision he cites here (notably via a link on the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom’s website), he would have seen that Lamb clarified this very point in his testimony.

Baptist Press: Altering the Boy Scouts of America’s longstanding national membership policy to allow homosexuals would undermine a Supreme Court decision in the organization’s favor and expose the Scouts to a “flood of litigation,” Alliance Defending Freedom has warned in a letter to Scout leadership.

The New American: Alan Sears, president of Alliance Defending Freedom, called Pope Francis “a leader who has stood strongly for the values of religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, marriage, and the family, often under very trying circumstances. We appreciate his many strong statements over the years on the protection of marriage and the unborn, and trust he will continue to be a powerful voice on the deep importance of these issues.”

LifeNews: Alliance Defending Freedom Allied Attorney Doug Romero of Denver has filed suit against Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains on behalf of Byer. “A woman’s life is more important than Planned Parenthood’s bottom line,” he says. “What Planned Parenthood did to Ayanna is beyond the pale. They clearly put her through extraordinary cruelty and jeopardized her life. Their actions were intolerable.” “Is this the type of organization American taxpayers should be funding to the tune of $540 million per year?” asks Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Michael J. Norton, a former U.S. attorney for the district of Colorado who helped author an Alliance Defending Freedom report to the U.S. House of Representatives on the fraudulent use of public funding by Planned Parenthood affiliates. “American tax dollars should be used responsibly and for the common good. Planned Parenthood is irresponsible and only promotes its own self-interest. That was clearly seen in what they did to Ayanna.”

LifeNews: “Women deserve access to the help they need for themselves and their unborn children without undue interference from the government,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Casey Mattox. “The court was right to stop the city of Elgin from preventing women from obtaining free ultrasounds and health information. TLC’s free services help both Elgin and its citizens, so the city’s actions have been both counterproductive and unconstitutional.”

American Spectator: Other pro-family groups have been collecting petitions and urging the BSA to stand firm. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which litigates in defense of religious freedom, has recently warned BSA that its proposed local option would potentially remove protection that courts have given BSA’s national policy. Absent a clear national standard, ADF warns, BSA would be vulnerable to litigation. “It is not legally necessary for BSA to sacrifice its history or its principles in the face of growing threats,” ADF told BSA in its appeal.

One News Now: Attorney Roger Kiska with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) tells American Family News the case, heard in Hungary’s capital on Wednesday, involves several people – Hungarians and Ukranians – who operate several clinics. “One of them is an abortion clinic from which they harvest from the aborted unborn children tissue and embryonic stem cells, which they then use in a cosmetic clinic injected directly into the veins of wealthy patients for $25,000 U.S. per injection,” he states.

Baptist Press on Opposing Views: Even a neutral national policy that leaves membership decisions to local councils and troops would endanger the organization, ADF said, because the Boy Scouts “then will have no common message upon which to base their right to freedom of expressive association.” . . . However, to ensure ongoing protection for its national policy under the First Amendment, BSA should take steps to regulate or disassociate itself from these groups,” ADF said. “In sum, consistency is key. Organizations that strive to maintain a consistency of their message by selecting members and participants based on a shared set of values typically have their First Amendment free association rights affirmed.”

KHASTV.com (includes Kellie in video): Thursday lawmakers got together to debate an issue that’s faced a number of Nebraska cities lately and it is now hitting a state level – workplace discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation . . . “This bill fails to protect the First Amendment freedoms. Instead, it seeks to confine religious freedom in particular to the four walls of a church or a place of worship,” said Kellie Fiedorek, Alliance Defending Freedom.

Baptist Press at Townhall: “The institution of marriage is the foundation of society, and on March 26-27, the public purpose of marriage will be at stake before the United States Supreme Court in two equally but critical cases to potentially reaffirm or redefine marriage in America,” ADF’s Alan Sears, president and CEO, says in a video at the website. “We’re asking you, your friends, family, neighbors and church community, to join Alliance Defending Freedom and our allies in faithfully praying … for different people and different things leading up to the Supreme Court arguments.”

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Over 20 groups are asking U.S. Secretary of State to end the U.S. obstruction over abortion at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Here is the letter sent today . . . It is especially shocking that the U.S. called for deleting a reaffirmation that every human being has the “inherent right to life, liberty and security of persons.” This contradicts a foundational principle of citizens and civilizations worldwide. [Piero Tozzi of Alliance Defending Freedom is one of many signers]

One News Now: The Alliance Defending Freedom also spoke at the same U.N. forum, saying the problem with treaty bodies goes beyond resources and money. “The real problem lies in the treaty bodies assuming powers which do not belong to them,” said ADF.

Huffington Post: That sparked what the Times called a trial of the counseling profession. Ward’s lawyers, a Phoenix-based Christian legal group called Alliance Defending Freedom, argued that if referrals to other counselors were common enough for non-religious reasons, Ward had been discriminated against for offering her religious beliefs as her reason for a referral.Hear Ward tell her story in the video below, posted on the Alliance Defending Freedom’s website . . .

Jack Balkin at Balkinization: At a meeting of the Supreme Court Clinic this evening, we discussed the upcoming arguments in the Marriage Cases. We considered what arguments would likely weigh most heavily with the Justices. I noted that one of the strongest influences on the Justices, and especially Justice Kennedy, was how they believed their decisions would look in in ten or twenty year’s time. Would they be seen as defenders of liberty and equality, or would they be viewed in hindsight as defenders of prejudice, fighting against the tide of progress?

Citizen Link: “America’s public schools should recognize the constitutionally protected freedom of students who wish to hand out these kinds of fliers,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “A flier cannot be banned just because some element of religious faith is part of it. On the contrary, the First Amendment specifically protected religious speech.”

Leonard Blair at Christian Post: In an interview with The Christian Post on Wednesday, Matt Sharp, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group based in Scottsdale, Ariz. which represented K.A. and her family, said they were happy with the ruling.
“We were very pleased with the court’s ruling in this. For several years there has been a move in the courts to respect the first amendment rights of students in particular, particularly younger students in elementary and middle school to share their faith at school,” he said.
“What this opens up is not just an invitation to a Christmas party but to any other religious event. It opens the door for K.A. to distribute any religious materials whether it’s an invitation to a church event or something else. As long as it’s done in a manner that doesn’t create a material disruption in school,” added Sharp.

Stoyan Zaimov at Christian Post: “Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman, who argued before the court in October. “Those ideas include a 5th-grader’s invitations to a religious event. The 3rd Circuit was correct in striking down the school district’s unconstitutional ban.”

Christian Newswire: “Women deserve access to the help they need for themselves and their unborn children without undue interference from the government,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Casey Mattox. “The court was right to stop the city of Elgin from preventing women from obtaining free ultrasounds and health information. TLC’s free services help both Elgin and its citizens, so the city’s actions have been both counterproductive and unconstitutional.”

Charisma News: Alliance Defending Freedom filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing such use. “A baby is precious, not a precious commodity,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Daniel Lipsic. “This horrific and inhuman use of a child’s cells and tissues has no place in a civilized society. No one should be allowed to line their wallets with profit gained from creating this kind of black market—one that generates a hideous demand for babies’ bodies for use in unapproved, elective cosmetic procedures.”

MPR (includes audio): The bill allows churches or other religious organizations to opt out of providing wedding-related services or facilities if they oppose same-sex marriage. But opponents still raised concerns. Ken Connelly, a lawyer with the national organization Alliance Defending Freedom, told the Senate panel that the religious exemption is inadequate and will lead to persecution. “If the government declares that same-sex unions and opposite-sex unions constitute equally marriages under the law, the law will eventually punish and stigmatize those who stand by traditional marriage as discriminatory and irrational,” Connelly said.