The Thomas More Law Center is a Christian, conservative, nonprofit, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan, and active throughout the United States. According to the Thomas More Law Center website, its goals are to "preserve America's Judeo-Christian heritage, defend the religious freedom of Christians, restore time-honored moral and family values, protect the sanctity of human life, and promote a strong national defense and a free and sovereign United States of America".
The Thomas More Law Center is active in social issues such as opposing same-sex marriage, abortion, provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the HHS Mandate. The Law Center has been involved, often unsuccessfully, in high-profile cases including the litigation of the Dover, Pennsylvania intelligent design case, the defense of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani against misconduct allegations stemming from the November 2005 Haditha incident, and the Law Center's federal lawsuit against the US Government regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Individual Mandate. The Law Center also litigates cases related to the defense of Christians and anti-abortion activists.
Founding and history The center was founded in 1999 by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan and the center's current President and Chief Counsel Richard Thompson, a former Oakland County, Michigan prosecutor known for his role in the prosecution of Jack Kevorkian. Among those who have sat on the center's advisory board are former Senators Rick Santorum and retired Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton, former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Catholic academic Charles Rice, Mary Cunningham Agee, and Ambassador Alan Keyes. The center's Citizens' Advisory Board also includes Representative Michele Bachmann and Lieutenant Colonel Allen West. The center is primarily financed by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations and is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization.
Name The center is named after Thomas More, an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and Renaissance humanist. He was an important councilor to Henry VIII and was Lord Chancellor.Linder, Douglas O. The Trial of Sir Thomas More: A Chronology at University Of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School Of Law More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular, the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale, whose books he burned. More later opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England because it disparaged papal authority. He was tried for treason, convicted, and beheaded. Thomas More is the patron saint of lawyers in the Catholic Church.
Notable cases
Intelligent design In 2005, the Thomas More Law Center represented the defendants in one of the country's first intelligent design cases, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
Prior to taking on this particular case, the lawyers of the Thomas More Law Center traveled the country seeking a school board willing to withstand a lawsuit as a test case for the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, forcing the first test case for intelligent design in the courts.
In the summer of 2004, the Dover, Pennsylvania, school board, after receiving legal advice from the Discovery Institute, accepted the center's offer of advice and possible representation as they worked to change their science curriculum. On November 19, 2004, the Dover Area School District announced that commencing in January 2005, teachers would be required to read a statement to students in the ninth-grade biology class at Dover High School: "The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin's Theory of Evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is a part. Because Darwin's Theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The Theory is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations. Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view. The reference book, Of Pandas and People, is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves. With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the Origins of Life to individual students and their families. As a Standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on Standards-based assessments."
A large number of copies of Of Pandas and People had been donated to the school by a member of the school board who purchased them using money he had given to his father, Donald Bonsell, and said they were donations solicited from his church. A month later, on December 14, 2004, the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit on behalf of eleven Dover parents, claiming that the statement was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Center defended the school district in the trial, which lasted from September 26 through November 4.
The case was decided on December 20, 2005. Judge John E. Jones III delivered a 139-page decision in favor of the plaintiffs, ruling that Intelligent Design is not science but essentially religious in nature and consequently inappropriate for a biology class. Members of the board that had originally enacted the policy were not re-elected, preventing an appeal.
The judge was scathing about the conduct of the defendants, saying, "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy" and "The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources."
Christian religious freedom issues
Travis Leach In 2001, the Law Center faxed a letter in defense of Traverse City, Michigan, police veteran Travis Leach, after he raised a religious objection to the city's newly adopted diversity measure which put rainbow flag bumper stickers on city vehicles, including police cruisers. Leach, a devout Christian, objected to the stickers as promoting "the homosexual lifestyle", which he considered a sin. The city's Human Rights Commission requested that Leach's fitness as a police officer be investigated. On the same day the letter was faxed, Police Chief Ralph Soffredine announced Leach had been cleared. Hansen et al., v Ann Arbor Public Schools et al. In July 2002, the Thomas More Law Center sued the Ann Arbor Public School system for violating a student's constitutional right to freedom of speech and right to equal protection, as well as the Establishment Clause. The Center won the case, with the judge ruling that the district had violated the student's rights by not allowing her to participate in a "Diversity Week" panel discussion concerning homosexuality and religion because she wished to discuss her Catholic faith."Judge: Ann Arbor schools violated student's rights" Associated Press, 8 December 2003 Skoros v. City of New York The Thomas More Law Center sued New York's school district in December 2002, saying a school policy was discriminatory against Roman Catholics by not allowing Nativity displays at Christmas but allowing the display of the Jewish menorah and the Islamic Star and Crescent during certain religious holidays and observances. Judge Charles P. Sifton of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York rejected the Center's constitutional claims. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision in February 2006. Johnson v. Poway Unified School District The Center filed a federal lawsuit against a Southern California school district on behalf of a teacher who was ordered to remove several banners from his classroom because school officials claimed the banners promoted an impermissible Judeo-Christian viewpoint. The banners contained slogans such as "In God We Trust" and "One Nation Under God". On September 13, 2011, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the summary judgment and ruled that the school district did not violate Johnson's free speech rights. The unanimous decision of the federal appeals court relied on U.S. Supreme Court rulings that said governments can limit the free speech rights of public employees in the workplace. On behalf of Catholic priest Ray Leonard, the Center sued the federal government for not allowing him to conduct services on a military base during a government shutdown.
Abortion & euthanasia issues Bernardo v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America In August 2001, the Thomas More Law Center filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliate Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties on behalf of three California women. The lawsuit accused Planned Parenthood of misleading women about the safety of abortion. The Center demanded that Planned Parenthood inform women of a link between abortion and breast cancer. Although Planned Parenthood and medical experts denied any such link, a Center lawyer claimed that a "preponderance of medical evidence" did establish a link."Planned Parenthood sued over abortion's risk" San Diego Union-Tribune, August 16, 2001. The judge dismissed the case and said there was little likelihood the lawsuit would succeed."Suit alleging abortion-cancer link dismissed" San Diego Union-Tribune, March 21, 2002. This particular case was dismissed on appeal on a procedural issue under California's anti-SLAPP statute as the information concerning the link between abortion and breast cancer provided by Planned Parenthood on its website "did not concern any product or service within the meaning of the UCL, nor did it concern or advertise any product or service within the meaning of the FAL, and thus did not fall within the ambit of these consumer protection statutes". Martin v. Larsen In 2001, the Law Center filed a lawsuit against Great Falls, Montana, Assistant City Attorney Kory Larsen, and two other city officials, claiming they violated the rights of abortion protesters with an already-removed one-week ban on graphic signs depicting aborted fetuses. Larsen said the signs were creating a public nuisance and were a risk to public safety. Schiavo et al. v Schiavo The Thomas More Law Center also got involved in the Terri Schiavo case in Florida in October 2003, sending Governor Jeb Bush a legal analysis stating that he could order a criminal investigation into whether or not Michael Schiavo had abused his wife. The Florida legislature passed "Terri's Law", giving Bush the authority to intervene in Schiavo's case and have her life-sustaining measures reconnected. The law was later deemed unconstitutional by Judge W. Douglas Baird, a Circuit Judge in the Florida Sixth Circuit.