Tag Archives: ZZ: Sherley v. Sebelius

ADF attorney Steve Aden appeared on Radio Boston to discuss the ruling in Sherley v. Sebelius. | MP3 4:40 mins| ADF Media Information

Singularity Hub: “The court case in question is a lawsuit filed by several parties against the federal government to stop public funding of embryonic stem cells. Those parties were led by the Alliance Defense Fund (a conservative Christian legal group) but included an adoption agency, embryos (on their behalf), and two scientists.”

Huffington Post (RNS): “Conservative activists, led by the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defense Fund, quickly claimed victory.”

Politico: “The Justice Department said Tuesday it will appeal an injunction that temporarily halts federal funding for embryonic stem cell research . . . But [Steve Aden], senior counsel at the anti-abortion Alliance Defense Fund, said the injunction represents a step toward better public policy. Aden, who represents the plaintiffs – two scientists who conduct similar research using adult stem cells – believes they can achieve better medical breakthroughs than researchers who use embryonic stem cells.”

Los Angeles Times: “Dr. James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher, the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit that threatens to end federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells, are perhaps better known for their extracurricular activities than for their scientific feats . . . Neither plaintiff is talking to the media, according to [Steven H. Aden], senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which represents them in the suit.”

BBC: “The US government will appeal after a US district court issued a temporary injunction blocking plans by the Obama administration to increase funding for human embryonic stem cell research . . . The suit, which was also backed by Christian groups including the Alliance Defense Fund, is against the National Institutes of Health (NIH).”

CBC News (AP): A U.S. court ruling that undercut federally funded embryonic stem cell research will be quickly appealed, the Obama administration declared Tuesday . . . However, the ruling drew praise from the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys who helped with the lawsuit filed by two researchers against the administration rules. ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life,’ said [Steven Aden], the group’s senior legal counsel.”

NPR: “However, the ruling drew praise from the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys who helped with the lawsuit filed by two researchers against the administration rules. ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ said [Steven H. Aden], the group’s senior legal counsel.”

Tom Strode reports at Baptist Press: “[Steven Aden], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a written release, ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos. No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless.’”

Transcript from NPR News, All Things Considered: “Steven Aden is the lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case. Mr. STEVEN ADEN (Senior Legal Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund): ‘He, in essence, said that Congress intended much more in passing the Dickey-Wicker Amendment than an arcane interpretation that says as long as the taxpayer dollars did not specifically go for the destruction of the embryo, it’s okay.’”

Think Progress: “[Y]esterday’s decision did not occur in a vacuum. It is the product of many right-wing activists working very, very hard for a very long time . . . as Michael Tomasky explains in the Guardian . . . ‘The plaintiff Alliance Defense Fund has a history of anti-gay activism. The group’s standing to sue was in question. In fact, on a previous occasion, Lamberth tossed the suit, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing.’”

The Detroit News: “Stem cell researchers in Michigan are anxiously awaiting a clarification on the federal judge’s ruling on Monday that blocked government rules expanding embryonic stem cell research . . . ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ [Steven H. Aden], ADF’s senior legal counsel, said.”

LifeNews: “And Advocates International, part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund litigating the case for stem cell researchers opposed to Obama’s order, also weighed in with a response.”

“. . . science itself has ended the debate . . . Nowadays, everyone wants a bailout. Embryo-destructive scientists are only the latest group to claim they’re too big to fail, when in fact they’ve never succeeded . . . ”

“The Obama administration announced today that it will appeal a federal judge’s decision striking down President Barack Obama’s executive order forcing taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research.”

Russell Korobkin writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “Judge Lamberth surprisingly interpreted Dickey-Wicker to prevent the use of tax dollars to support researchers who do any work using hESC lines as an input. One might at least plausibly argue for this result based on the principle that underlies Dickey-Wicker: that is, if Congress’ goal is to avoid dirtying the federal government’s hands with complicity in the destruction of embryos, perhaps research that relies on embryo destruction somewhere upstream should be ineligible for funding. But Lamberth claims that his result is supported by the unambiguous language of the Amendment. I find this argument utterly unconvincing.”

FOX News: “The White House said Tuesday it wants to press ahead with federally funded stem cell research amid fears by some private groups that a judge’s ruling will block important scientific work. The Obama administration is exploring all possible avenues ‘to make sure that we can continue to do this critical lifesaving research,’ Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters in Vineyard Haven, Mass.”

Associated Press: “The White House says federally funded stem cell research should continue and is exploring how to respond to a judge’s order halting it.”

New York Times: “The ruling came as a shock to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and at universities across the country, which had viewed the Obama administration’s new policy and the grants provided under it as settled law. Scientists scrambled Monday evening to assess the ruling’s immediate impact on their work . . . [Steven H. Aden], senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which sued to stop the Obama administration rules, said the judge’s ruling ‘means that for now the N.I.H. cannot issue funding grants to embryonic stem cell research projects without any further order from the court.’”

Standard Newswire: “CMA CEO David Stevens, MD, noted, “This case highlights the harm that diverting federal funds away from proven effective research poses to those patients who are waiting for cures . . . Dr. Stevens noted, ‘We are grateful for the excellent legal work of Advocates International, and the Alliance Defense Fund in this case, and are proud to stand with fellow plaintiffs Drs. James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, Shayne and Tina Nelson, William and Patricia Flynn.’”

Associated Press: “The judge’s ruling drew praise from the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys and co-counsel in the suit. ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ [Steven H. Aden], ADF’s senior legal counsel, said.”

LifeNews: “The Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group that served as co-counsel in the case, also hailed the order that prevents the Obama administration from carrying out its embryonic stem cell research policy while the court considers the lawsuit. ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments–prohibited by federal law–that destroy human life,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel [Steven Aden].”

Earned Media (Advocates International): “Advocates International (AI), part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (GD&C) who brought the case before the court more than a year ago, is pleased with the decision of the United States District Court of the District of Columbia yesterday enjoining HHS and NIH from unlawfully expending taxpayer funds on research involving the destruction of living human embryos.”

Ronald Bailey writing at Reason: “The case had been brought before the court by the conservative Christian Alliance Defense Fund and Nightlight Christian Adoptions which wants to put embryos left over from fertility treatments up for ‘adoption.’ Both argue that deriving human embryonic stem cells kills pre-born people. Given that about 60 percent of Americans support stem cell research using embryos left over from fertility treatments, this ruling will surely spark the stem cell wars anew.”

The Christian Post: “‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments – prohibited by federal law – that destroy human life,’ said [Steven H. Aden], senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund. ‘The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos.’”

Michael Tomasky writing at The Guardian: “This case was not only about the new NIH guidelines, but about the legal standing of the plaintiffs, who were representatives of conservative Christian advocacy groups and research agencies that opposed the Obama NIH proposals. The plaintiff Alliance Defense Fund has a history of anti-gay activism. The group’s standing to sue was in question. In fact, on a previous occasion, Lamberth tossed the suit, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing.”

Portfolio.com / Heavy Doses: “The judge found that a group of researchers working with adult stem cells, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, had a good chance of winning their suit challenging the Obama administration’s policy. That suit was based on a 1996 Congressional ban on destroying embryos to create embryonic stem cell lines.”

Vermont Public Radio (NPR): [Steven Aden] of the Alliance Defense Fund didn’t buy that argument, and neither did Judge Lamberth. ‘If one step of a project results in the destruction of an embryo, the entire project is precluded from receiving federal funding,’ Aden said.”

CBN News: “‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments, prohibited by federal law that destroy human life,’ the Alliance Defense Fund’s senior legal counsel [Steven H. Aden], said.” | Video at link

The Washington Post: “[Steven Aden], a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund who filed the suit, said the court will need to clarify whether the injunction affects work using money already issued to researchers under the administration’s new guidelines or blocks additional funding.”

The Boston Globe: “[Steven H. Aden] — senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal alliance of Christian attorneys and co-counsel in the suit — said yesterday that the alliance was encouraged by the ‘common sense’ ruling. ‘We believe that the court’s interpretation is consistent with Congress’s intent in keeping taxpayer money out of research that destroys human life,’ Aden said.”

Worthy News: “‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel [Steven H. Aden] which co-counseled in the lawsuit.”

Bloomberg: “For opponents of the field, federal funding for such research equates to taxpayer support for the destruction of human life, said [Steven H. Aden], an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund in Washington, a Christian organization that represented the two remaining plaintiffs in the case. ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life,’ Aden said yesterday in a statement on the alliance’s website.

Catholic News Agency: “The Alliance Defense Fund, which helped represent CMA and Nightlight, saying that the ‘American people should not be forced to pay for experiments – prohibited by federal law – that destroy human life.’ ‘The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ continued ADF Senior Legal Counsel [Steven H. Aden]. ‘No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless.’”

Monsters and Critics.com: “ADF senior legal counsel [Steven Aden] said, ‘No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless. Experimentation on embryonic stem cells isn’t even necessary because adult stem cell research has been enormously successful.’”

LifeNews: “The lawsuit, filed in August 2009, alleges that the guidelines governing destructive embryonic stem cell research implemented by the Obama administration in July “are contrary to law, were promulgated without observing the procedures required by law . . . Thomas G. Hungar, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, which includes the Alliance Defense Fund and the Christian Medical Association, said in 2009 when the lawsuit was filed, ‘the language of the [Dickey-Wicker] statute is clear’ that it ‘bans public funding for any research that leads to the destruction of human embryos.’”

Wall Street Journal: “[Steven Aden], senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund and a lawyer for the challengers, said the ruling ‘is in line with Congress’s intention that taxpayer funds should not be used to destroy human life.’”

NPR: “A federal judge has for the time being sided with opponents of embryonic stem cell research, temporarily blocking Obama Administration rules that would have expanded the lines of such cells that could be studied by medical researchers.”

“Recognizing that the current Congress could change the provision relied on by the court to strike down the Obama policy, Nikas encouraged states legislatures to consider enacting complete prohibitions on embryonic stem cell research and human cloning similar to the BDF-drafted bill recently enacted in Arizona.”

Family Research Council: “Family Research Council President Tony Perkins applauded today’s preliminary injunction that for now stops taxpayer funded embryonic stem cell research. Judge Royce Lamberth noted that the imposition of an injunction required that those challenging the government’s funding demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success on the merits for their arguments. Apparently, they succeeded.” For more information see this post: U.S. district court rules against federal stem cell funding policy

“A federal court Monday issued an order that prevents the Obama administration from carrying out its embryonic stem cell research policy while a lawsuit against it proceeds in court. The court concluded that the policy, which allows such research, is likely to be in violation of a federal law known as the “Dickey/Wicker Amendment” that prohibits federal funds from being used on research that involves the destruction of human embryos.”

“A U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction on Monday stopping federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, saying it involves the destruction of human embryos.”

Christian Post: “‘Although private-sector funding of embryonic stem cell research has been practically unlimited, it has failed to produce results,’ said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel [Steven H. Aden], in a statement. ADF is a co-counsel in the case along with Advocates International in the case of Sherley v. Sebelius. | ADF News Release

LifeNews: “A federal appeals court has reinstate the lawsuit a collection of pro-life groups have filed against the Obama administration for forcing taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research involving the destruction of human life. … The Alliance Defense Fund and the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher are also helping the clients involved in the lawsuits.” | ADF News Release

OneNewsNow: “‘The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the dismissal of a federal lawsuit that contends that the Obama administration’s embryonic stem-cell research policy is in violation of federal law,’ reports ADF attorney [Steven H. Aden].” | ADF News Release

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit Friday that contends that the Obama administration’s embryonic stem cell research policy is in violation of federal law. The law, known as the “Dickey/Wicker Amendment,” prohibits federal funds from being used to destroy human embryos for research purposes.

ADF attorney Steven H. Aden appeared on the Bob Dutko Show to discuss this: ADF providing support to lawsuit defending law that prohibits federal funding of embryo destruction | The mp3 runs just under 6 and a half minutes.

OneNewsNow: “A lawsuit against a presidential edict to use federal funds for embryonic stem-cell research has gone to an appeals court . . . ‘In the Dickey/Wicker Amendment, Congress prohibited federal funding for destructive embryonic stem-cell research,’ [Steven H. Aden] explains. ‘That didn’t matter to the Obama administration, which issued the executive order allowing the funding of research on lines that had been derived from the destruction of human embryos.’

ADF attorney Steven H. Aden appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss this: ADF providing support to lawsuit defending law that prohibits federal funding of embryo destruction | The MP3 runs approx. 11 minutes.

LifeNews: “A federal appeals court held a hearing today in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the controversial guidelines the National Institutes of Health used to implement President Barack Obama’s decision to force taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research . . . ‘No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless,’ said [ADF Attorney Steven Aden]. ‘Innocent life should not be treated like a commodity. Although private-sector funding of embryonic stem cell research has been practically unlimited, it has failed to produce results.’” | ADF News Release: ADF providing support to lawsuit defending law that prohibits federal funding of embryo destruction

Citizen Link (4/12): “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorneys were in court today for oral arguments in a suit (Sherley v. Sebelius) alleging the Obama administration’s embryonic research policy violates federal law . . . ”

Ozarks First: “Lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund are participating in oral arguments this morning at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a federal lawsuit over the destruction of human embryos.” | ADF News Release: ADF providing support to lawsuit defending law that prohibits federal funding of embryo destruction

ADF Senior Legal Counsel Steven H. Aden will be available for media interviews Monday following oral argument in the federal lawsuit Sherley v. Sebelius at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The suit contends that the Obama administration’s embryonic stem cell research policy is in violation of a law which prohibits federal funds from being used to destroy human embryos for research purposes.