Tag Archives: ZZADF: 36970

GoErie.com (AP): “All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences,” Alliance Defending Freedom said in a statement praising the ruling. Allowing the lawsuit to go forward will “ensure that the government doesn’t punish people of faith for making decisions consistent with that faith.

WTAE.com: “All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences,” Alliance Defending Freedom said in a statement praising the ruling. Allowing the lawsuit to go forward will “ensure that the government doesn’t punish people of faith for making decisions consistent with that faith.”

Times Online: The lawsuit filed last year by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of Geneva was dismissed. That’s because a judge agreed with the Justice Department that the school wasn’t suffering immediate harm because federal officials were working to exempt such institutions from the law.

CNSNews: All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences,” said Gregory S. Baylor, a senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Geneva. “The court has done the right thing in allowing Geneva College to remain in this lawsuit…to ensure that the government doesn’t punish people of faith for making decisions consistent with that faith.”

All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences. That’s no different for Geneva College, a Christian-run college that simply wants to abide by the very faith it espouses and teaches. T

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “This is a small family business. Many of the employees are part of the family,” said Matt Bowman, attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based firm representing Seneca. “Yet the government is forcing them to violate their religious beliefs [as] a price of doing business in America.”

Life Site News: Bowman, the senior legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said: “This is a family that provides generous benefits in their business and they want to be free to live according to their faith, but this Obamacare mandate is coercing them to violate their conscience.”

Joe Wolverton, II at The New American: n a statement issued to LifeNews, the attorney from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Seneca Hardwood, explained why his organization is taking on the federal government.
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman told LifeNews: All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences. The court has done the right thing in issuing an order against the administration’s abortion pill mandate, just as many other courts have done. For the many family-run businesses affected by the mandate, the court stated it well: “the mandate’s requirements impose a substantial burden on their exercise of religion.”

Huffington Post: “This is a family that provides generous benefits in their business and they want to be free to live according to their faith, but this Obamacare mandate is coercing them to violate their conscious,” said Matt Bowman, the senior legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom who represented the plaintiffs in the case.

All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences. The court has done the right thing in issuing an order against the administration’s abortion pill mandate, just as many other courts have done. For the many family-run businesses affected by the mandate, the court stated it well: ‘the mandate’s requirements impose a substantial burden on their exercise of religion.

LifeNews: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman responded to the decision. His firm is helping Seneca Hardwood Lumber Co. in its case against the Obama administration. He told LifeNews: “All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences. The court has done the right thing in issuing an order against the administration’s abortion pill mandate, just as many other courts have done. For the many family-run businesses affected by the mandate, the court stated it well: ‘the mandate’s requirements impose a substantial burden on their exercise of religion.’”

Catholic Culture: A US district court judge in western Pennsylvania has ruled a lawsuit filed by the Seneca Hardwood Lumber Company against the HHS mandate may proceed. The for-profit company is owned by a Catholic family. (links to ADF Media press release and the complaint)

Religion Clause Blog: Finally, in what may be a first in the many decisions handed down so far in challenges to the mandate, the court held that “plaintiffs set forth sufficient factual allegations to support a plausible claim that the notice and comment requirements of the APA were violated.” ADF issued a press release on the decision.

Christianity Today: The court acknowledged Geneva College’s standing to challenge the mandate but ultimately dismissed the claim because the school actually may be exempt. The Alliance Defense Fund intends to appeal the decision.

CBN: Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the two organizations, was pleased with the court’s Seneca ruling. “All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman said.

All Americans, including jobs creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences.

ADFMedia has created a resource page listing pending HHS suits by state.

Matt Bowman appeared on Stand Up for the Truth | MP3 audio 16:24 mins

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman will be available for media interviews following a hearing Wednesday in which he will argue against the Obama administration’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit against the president’s abortion pill mandate.

Matt Bowman appeared on the Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio. An earlier report on the case appeared in National Review Online. | MP3 audio 10:26 mins

liance Defending Freedom attorneys who are litigating numerous lawsuits against the Obama administration’s abortion pill and contraceptive mandate are calling Vice President Joe Biden’s claims that effectively denied the mandate’s existence in Thursday’s vice-presidential debate “amazingly false.”

Pottsmer.com: A federal judge has denied a civil rights group’s bid to join the government’s defense against a western Pennsylvania Christian college’s challenge to regulations requiring employers to offer birth control coverage

National Review Online: Carrie Kolesar of Seneca Hardwood Lumber Co. in Cranberry, Pa., tells National Review Online’s Kathryn Jean Lopez in an interview. “No American should be faced with a decision like that,” she continues. Kolesar is a part owner of this family business established in 1961 . . . A few weeks after the mandate was finalized, I saw that Alliance Defending Freedom was taking a case for a private business and I contacted them for advice regarding our situation. The HHS mandate has put us in a situation where we can’t provide insurance for ourselves and our employees without violating our moral obligations and freedom of conscience. My parents, my siblings, and I believe that the public and our government need to be more aware of the problems caused when we don’t protect freedom of conscience.

Baptist Press: “If the government continues to say that we have to do this, we will not do it,” Louisiana College President Joe Aguillard told Fox News. “There’s going to be, in my opinion, a constitutional crisis. We’re not going to do it.” . . . “People of faith shouldn’t be punished by the government for following their beliefs when making decisions for themselves or their organizations,” said Kevin Theriot, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom. The ADF is representing Louisiana College in its lawsuit.

WYTV.com (AP): The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Friday that the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance Defense Fund has added Wayne Helper and Carrie Kolesar, owners of lumber and sawmill businesses, to the federal lawsuit filed last month by Geneva College, in Beaver Falls.

Greg Baylor appeared on the radio to discuss the litigation. These broadcasts were recorded within the last two weeks. | Viewpoints with Lockwood Phillps, MP3 audio 20:03 mins | The Hugh Hewitt Show, MP3 audio 10:22 mins | ADF comment on 12 new lawsuits against Obama abortion pill mandate

Examiner (AP): The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/L8m8T6 ) reports Friday that the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance Defense Fund has added Wayne Helper and Carrie Kolesar, owners of lumber and sawmill businesses, to the federal lawsuit filed last month by Geneva College, in Beaver Falls

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Attorneys for ADF have now added as plaintiffs Wayne L. Helper and Carrie E. Kolesar, father-daughter co-owners of the Cranberry-based Seneca Hardwood Lumber Co. and a related sawmill company.

NC Register: Alliance Defense Fund filed a formal comment with the Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of the Catholic schools, including Benedictine College, Christendom College, John Paul the Great Catholic University and Wyoming Catholic College.

The Examiner: “The government shouldn’t punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith,” stated the Alliance Defense Fund’s President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears. “We welcome these lawsuits, which are about religious freedom and freedom of conscience, not about contraception … These new cases are about the very right to determine what is ‘religious’ and what faith-based beliefs may be followed in life.”

LifeSiteNews: The Alliance Defense Fund is handling three lawsuits against the mandate on behalf of Louisiana College, Geneva College, and a private employer. ADF President and General Counsel Alan Sears said, “These new cases… join the growing list of evangelical, protestant, and Catholic religious organizations and employers who are taking a stand in objecting to the government when it forces any religious institution or individual to provide or fund morally repugnant services.”

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defense Fund President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears to express support for 12 new lawsuits being filed by 41 Catholic dioceses against the Obama administration’s mandate that requires religious organizations to provide health care coverage for abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception . . .

ADF Attorney Greg Baylor on 99.5 FM WRNO with Denny Schaffer Show to discuss the suites (Geneva College) and (Louisiana College) | MP3 audio 6:30 mins

Washington Post: Since November, at least eight lawsuits have been filed in federal district courts across the country challenging the constitutionality of the rule, which requires employers, including church-affiliated organizations that object to contraception on religious grounds, to cover birth control in workers’ health plans with no out-of-pocket charges.

Human Events: ObamaCare’s requirement that every American buy government-mandated coverage will ensure that no religious person or institution will go untrampled in the President’s rush to line Planned Parenthood’s pockets and eliminate all consequences of irresponsible sexual behavior.

One News Now: The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration on behalf of Geneva College in Pennsylvania, as attorney Gregory Baylor explains that the school is concerned about being forced to pay for drugs that may take the lives of unborn children. “The administration has been hearing about this for a year and a half, and they decided to go ahead and subordinate religious freedom to this invented, fake right to have contraceptives and abortifacients paid for by someone else, to be gotten for free,” he comments.

WorldNewsServices on Crosswalk: On Feb. 20, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) announced suits filed on behalf of two other schools — Louisiana College, which falls within the 5th Circuit, and Geneva College, in the 3rd Circuit. Kevin Theriot, senior counsel with the ADF, said the spread of the organization’s cases is not part of a grand strategy but acknowledged that its lawyers hope to end up with clients in every district. “If we win in the 5th Circuit, that doesn’t directly affect a school in Washington,” he said. “You can really only solve the problem for a school if you get the circuit where they are to rule in their favor.”

(Reuters) EmpowHER: The existence of such waivers “undermines the government’s claim that it has an incredibly important interest in providing contraception for free,” said Gregory Baylor, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund who represents several other colleges considering legal action.

Heritage Foundation (includes video): Just this week, the Alliance Defense Fund filed two lawsuits against the Obama Administration on behalf of Geneva College, a small Pennsylvania school affiliated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and Louisiana College, a Southern Baptist school.

The Boston Pilot: “Insurers are often run by people with religious faith, who should not have to choose between their belief and their participation in our society,” Bowman noted, explaining the importance of Catholic Mutual Group’s involvement in the suit.

WCN247.com: The Alliance Defense Fund filed the lawsuit on behalf of Geneva College, which was founded by the Reformed Presbyterian Church . . . The Alliance Defense Fund filed a similar lawsuit in Louisiana . . .

ADF Attorney Greg Baylor appeared on 1020 KDKA CBS Pittsburgh with Robert Mangino. | MP3 audio 15:10 mins

ADF Attorney Matt Bowman appeared on radio to discuss the Obama Mandate and the college suits . | KFUO Radio, MP3 audio 25:11 mins | The Janet Mefferd Show, MP3 audio 13:46 mins | WRKF Baton Rouge with Jim Enster, MP3 audio 51:02 mins (Matt fields a lot of questions in this broadcast)

Fox News: The Alliance Defense Fund filed suit Tuesday on behalf of Geneva College, a Christian-affiliated school in Pennsylvania. The ADF also filed suit over the weekend on behalf of Louisiana College, a private Baptist institution. Separately, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has filed suit on behalf of four groups . . .

The Duqesne Duke: The Alliance Defense Fund and Geneva College presented a lawsuit during a press conference Tuesday against President Barack Obama’s provision to the federal healthcare reform bill that would require all religious employers to provide contraception to employees …

KPCLTV: The Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit in US District Court in Pittsburgh on behalf of Geneva College.

Huffington Post: “The state shouldn’t punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith,” ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor said in a statement. “Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to anyone can do this — and worse — to everyone.”

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears at the Christian Post (also on the ADF Blog) “What is ‘offensive’ is the double standard here,” says ADF Litigation Counsel Matt Sharp. “Public school officials cannot pick and choose what messages they are going to allow based on which viewpoints they prefer. ADF has litigated numerous cases similar to this one, and the law and the Constitution are clearly on the side of our client here as well.”

WWLP.com (includes video): The Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh on behalf of Geneva College.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Alliance Defense Fund, using attorneys based in Washington D.C., Georgia and Kansas, is helping Geneva pursue the case.

The Hill: The Alliance Defense Fund and Geneva College have filed a lawsuit against the health law’s birth-control coverage mandate.

Philadelphia Inquirer: The Alliance Defense Fund filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Geneva College. The school in Beaver Falls is associated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. “At Geneva College, we only have one Lord, and he does not live in Washington, D.C.,” college

Chronicle of Higher Education: The Alliance Defense Fund filed suits on behalf of Geneva College, in Beaver Falls, Pa., which is affiliated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and Louisiana College, a Southern Baptist institution in Pineville, La. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a suit on behalf of Ave Maria University, a conservative Catholic institution near Naples, Fla.

CBS Pittsburgh: Most of the cost of the lawsuit will be taken on by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian civil rights group in Washington DC.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “People of faith cannot be punished for following that faith and that is what this mandate does,” said Alliance Defense Fund attorney Greg Baylor.

National Right to Life News: The state shouldn’t punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith,” said Gregory Baylor, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which filed the lawsuit. “Every American should know that …

News-Press.com: On the heels of Ave Maria’s filing, another lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of Geneva College by the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys defending religious freedom. The college, in Beaver Falls, Pa., was founded in the tradition of the Reformed Presbyterian faith.

Newsworks: On these points, ADF senior counsel Greg Baylor compares his client’s moral and financial dilemmas with what he sees as meddlesome government intrusion. “What is the state’s interest in this? Is it really necessary to provide that sort of burden on [Geneva's College's] conscience in order to save some one from spending 55 dollars on a box of Ella?” said Baylor. “The burden on conscience is not justified by the government’s alleged interest in having party ‘A’ pay for party ‘B’s’ abortion-causing drugs.”

Heritage Foundation: “People of faith shouldn’t be punished by the state for following that faith in making decisions for themselves or their organizations,” said Greg Baylor, senior counsel at ADF. “Every American should know that a government with the power …

TimesOnline (video): Geneva College already provides some contraceptive health coverage for its employees, but it is opposed to being mandated to cover birth-control methods that include embryo-killing drugs, officials at the Beaver Falls school said Tuesday. In announcing it had joined with the Alliance Defense Fund, a national coalition of about 2,000 Christian attorneys, in filing a federal lawsuit against the new national health care plan’s provisions on “preventive services,” Geneva officials said it was not about the contraceptives for them, it was about what they called “abortion-causing drugs.”

WTAE.com (includes video): “The state shouldn’t punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith,” said Gregory Baylor, senior counsel for the ADF, which filed the lawsuit. “Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to anyone can do this — and worse — to everyone.”

Federal lawsuit challenges Obama administration’s latest attack on religious freedom