The Thomas More Law Center is a conservative Christian, not-for-profit law center based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and active throughout the United States. Its stated goals are defending the religious freedom of Christians [1], restoring "time honored values" and protecting the sanctity of human life. Its motto is "The Sword and the Shield for People of Faith." The center characterizes itself as "Christianity's answer to the ACLU". [2] The Christian Right, is a broad label applied to a number of political and religious movements with particularly conservative and right wing views. ... A nonprofit organization (sometimes abbreviated to not-for-profit, non-profit, or NPO) is an organization whose primary objective is to support some issue or matter of private interest or public concern for non-commercial purposes. ... For the railroad company, see Ann Arbor Railroad. ... The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major American non-profit organization whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.[1] It works through litigation, legislation, and community...

The issues the center pursues, mostly through litigation, are generally in line with modern social conservativism: opposing same-sex marriage and other gay-related causes; opposing pornography; supporting pro-life positions and initiatives; supporting the principles of Free Exercise and free speech; and opposing the removal of the Ten Commandments and other religious monuments from municipal and school buildings. International recognition Civil unions and domestic partnerships Recognized in some regions Unregistered co-habitation Recognition debated Civil unions legal, same-sex marriage debated See also Same-sex marriage Civil union Registered partnership Domestic partnership Timeline of same-sex marriage Listings by country This box:      Same-sex marriage is a term... Porn redirects here. ... This article is about the social movement. ... This article is about a list of ten religious commandments. ...

The center says its lawyers maintain "the highest moral and ethical standards of our Christian faith and our legal profession." The center considers its work "ministry" and states it was inspired by what it calls a "cultural war being waged across America" against "Christians and their faith." A policy statement of the center states "The Thomas More Center seeks to transform the national culture by taking cases across the United States consistent with its mission. The Center currently is handling over 120 legal matters in 27 different states." Currently, the Law Center has cases in 41-44 of 50 states, and has a team of around 300 pro bono attorneys. This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Though it is active in many controversial social issues and cases, the center is most widely known for its litigation and loss of the Dover, Pennsylvania intelligent design case, and its strong pro-lifelitigation. For other uses, see Intelligent design (disambiguation). ... This article is about the social movement. ...

The Center is named after Thomas More, the 16th century Lord Chancellor whose decision to refuse to accept King Henry VIII's claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England ended his political career and led to his execution as a traitor. Thomas More is also the patron saint of lawyers in the Roman Catholic Church. Attorneys from the center have appeared on numerous local and national television and radio programs including The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, MSNBC, EWTN, the Laura Ingraham Show, The Radio Factor w/Bill O'Reilly, American Family Radio, and Dennis Prager. For the numerous educational institutions, see Thomas More College. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and prior to the Union the Chancellor of England and the Lord Chancellor of Scotland, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom, and its predecessor states. ... Henry VIII King of England and Ireland by Hans Holbein the Younger His Grace King Henry VIII (28 June 1491–28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ... The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... For the numerous educational institutions, see Thomas More College. ... Saint Quentin is the patron saint of locksmiths and is also invoked against coughs and sneezes. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

Establishment and cases

The Center was founded in 1999 by Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, and Richard Thompson, the former prosecutor known for his role in the prosecution of Jack Kevorkian and who now serves as the center's President and Chief Counsel. Senator Rick Santorum, former Senator and retired Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton, former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Prof. Charles Rice, noted Catholic academic, and Ambassador Alan Keyes are among those who have sat on the center's advisory board. Santorum has played a crucial role in promoting intelligent design through his Santorum Amendment; however, following the Center's defeat in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case (see below), Santorum resigned from its board of governors. [3] The center's funding came from Monaghan's Mater Christe Foundation.^[1] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... World locations Dominos Pizza, Inc. ... Jack Kevorkian, M.D. (IPA pronunciation: [1]) (born May 20, some sources say May 26[2], 1928) is a controversial American pathologist. ... “Santorum” redirects here. ... Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr. ... MLB and Major Leagues redirect here. ... Bowie Kent Kuhn (born October 28, 1926 in Takoma Park, Maryland) was commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969 to September 30, 1984. ... Alan Keyes (born August 7, 1950) is a former Reagan administration diplomat, a Harvard-educated constitutional scholar, and a conservative political activist. ... The Santorum Amendment was an amendment to the 2001 education funding bill which became known as the No Child Left Behind Act, proposed by former Republican United States Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania, which promotes the teaching of intelligent design while questioning the academic standing of evolution in U.S... Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. ...

In August 2001, the Center filed a lawsuit against the San Diego chapter of Planned Parenthood, in which it sued Planned Parenthood to force it to inform women of a possible link between abortions and breast cancer. Although PP and medical experts denied any such link, a Thomas More Law Center lawyer claimed that a "preponderance of medical evidence" did establish a link.^[2] The case was later dismissed by the judge, who said there was little likelihood the lawsuit would succeed.^[3] The Center was ordered to pay $77,835 in legal fees.^[4] Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Flag Seal Nickname: Americas Finest City Location Location of San Diego within San Diego County Coordinates , Government County San Diego Mayor City Attorney         City Council District One District Two District Three District Four District Five District Six District Seven District Eight Jerry Sanders (R) Michael Aguirre Scott Peters Kevin... This article is about Planned Parenthood Federation of America. ... Breast cancer is cancer of breast tissue. ...

In September 2001, the Center publicly offered to provide legal assistance to "American citizens who believe they have been unconstitutionally denied the right to fly the American flag or express their faith in God", claiming that there had been numerous incidents of such denials in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.^[5] The World Trade Center on fire The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. ...

In July 2002, the Thomas More Law Center sued the Ann Arbor Public Schools, claiming the district violated a student's constitutional rights by "promoting homosexuality".^[6] It eventually won the case, with the judge ruling that the district had violated the student's rights when she wasn't allowed to express her Catholic views in a panel discussion about gays and religion.^[7] Also see: 2002 (number). ... Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. ...

In the same month it sued Contra Costa County's Byron Union School District for allegedly violating students' constitutional rights after a seventh-grade class used the workbook "Islam: a Simulation of Islamic History and Culture", in which pupils were encouraged to role-play situations from Islamic history from 610 to 1100 A.D.^[8] The Center also represented hard-line anti-abortionists who had produced the controversial Nuremburg Files website displayed the names and locations of various doctors who perform abortions throughout the United States. The case eventually went to the United States Supreme Court, where the anti-abortionists lost. The Center sued New York's school district in December 2002 for banning Nativity scenes in public schools.^[9] Contra Costa County is a suburban county in Californias San Francisco Bay Area. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... “NY” redirects here. ... For the Nativity of Jesus, see Nativity of Jesus. ...

In March 2003, the Center intervened in the controversy over the "Ten Commandments monument" erected in the Alabama Supreme Court building by Judge Roy Moore. It filed a brief in support of Moore, claiming that the "First Amendment does not require the existence of an impenetrable wall between church and state." ^[10] Later in 2003, it sued the Ann Arbor Public School District in an attempt to stop the district from using public funds to pay for insurance benefits for same-sex partners of district employees.^[11] Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. ... Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947 in Etowah County, Alabama) is a controversial American jurist and politician noted for his refusal, as the elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse despite orders from a federal court... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ...

The Thomas More Law Center also intervened in the Terry Schiavo controversy in Florida in October 2003, sending Governor Jeb Bush a legal opinion stating that "Bush could legally intervene to order a criminal investigation into whether Terri Schiavo may have been abused at some point by her husband, Michael Schiavo, who has always denied such charges." ^[12] Terri Schiavo before her 1990 collapse. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Largest metro area Miami metropolitan area Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,795[1] sq mi (170,304[1] km²)  - Width 361 miles (582 km)  - Length 447 miles (721 km)  - % water 17. ... John Ellis Jeb Bush (born February 11, 1953), a Republican, is the forty-third and current Governor of Florida. ...

In January 2004, the Center sued Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas for displaying a sculpture of a Catholic bishop with a grotesque facial expression wearing a phallus on his head that is shaped like a bishop's miter and entitled "Holier than Thou." ^[13] The Center played a central role in devising the controversial total ban on abortion in South Dakota in the same year, working closely with a legislator to draft a bill which the state legislature eventually rejected by only one vote.^[14] Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Washburn University, located in Topeka, Kansas, provides broadly-based liberal arts and professional education through more than 200 certificate, associate, baccalaureate, master’s and juris doctor programs through the College of Arts and Sciences and the Schools of Law, Business, Nursing and Applied Studies. ... This article is about the state capital of Kansas. ... This article is about the symbol of the erect penis. ... This article is about the ceremonial head-dress; see also mitre (disambiguation). ... Official language(s) English Capital Pierre Largest city Sioux Falls Area  Ranked 17th  - Total 77,163 sq mi (199,905 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 380 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ...

An article in an October 2006 article in the Agape Press said TMLC attorney Edward L. White III said "favoritism toward non-Christian religions in the United State is improper" and that "the courts, the schools, and even the military should stop favoring religions that don't represent the values and traditions of America." ^[15] White expanded on this:

"The courts and the schools, in particular, look at [those other religions] as though this is something different [and] it's okay to do things that we would never allow you to do when it comes to Christianity," the attorney says. That attitude, he explains, has a snowball effect. "The problem with that is that, all of a sudden, it starts running rampant," White continues. "It starts running through the public schools, even all the way to the military of sensitivity training with regard to various things that there's really no need for."

Notable Cases Involving the Thomas More Law Center

Intelligent design

The Thomas More Law Center gained notoriety as the law firm for the defendance in one of the country's first intelligent design cases, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. ...

Prior to taking on this particular case, a New York Times article revealed that the lawyers of the Thomas More Law Center travelled the country shopping for 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.^[16] In a May 2000 visit to Charleston, West Virginia, Robert Muise, one of the lawyers, tried to persuade the school board to buy and use Of Pandas and People as a textbook for its science classes.^[16] Muise warned the board in Charleston that it would undoubtedly be sued if the district taught intelligent design, but that the Thomas More Law Center would provide legal defense at no cost: "We'll be your shields against such attacks," he told the school board, referencing the Center's motto.^[16] Muise told the board they could defend teaching intelligent design as a matter of academic freedom.^[16] The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... For other uses, see Intelligent design (disambiguation). ... Nickname: Home of Hospitality, The most northern city of the South and the most southern city of the North, Chemicalville, The Capitol City C-Town Location of Charleston in West Virginia. ... Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon and published by the Texas-based Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE). ...

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.^[16] On November 19, 2004, the board issued a press release stating that, starting in January 2005, each biology class would be read a statement indicating the alleged uncertainties about some aspects of Darwinian evolution, and directing the students to Of Pandas and People, of which a large number had been donated to the school by a member of the school board who purchased them using money given to him by his father, but 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 Discovery Institute is a think tank based in Seattle, Washington best known for its advocacy of intelligent design and its Teach the Controversy campaign to teach creationist beliefs in United States public high school science courses. ... Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon and published by the Texas-based Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE). ... The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a non_governmental organization devoted to defending civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. ... Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is an advocacy group in the United States which promotes the separation of church and state, a legal doctrine derived from the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ...

The center defended the school district in the trial, which lasted from September 26 through November 4. For a trial documents and other materials, see Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial documents, for a more detailed description of the trial, see Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. Below are summaries of key documents from Kitzmiller v. ... Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. ...

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. John E. Jones III John Edward Jones III (born June 13, 1955) is an American lawyer, political figure, and jurist from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ...

The Thomas More Law Center continues to lobby school districts^{[citation needed]} to present intelligent design as a scientific alternative to, and at the expense of, evolution, in public school science classes, in defiance of the scientific consensus. Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of science at a particular time. ...

Other cases

• Terri Schiavo - The center's participation in the Schiavo controversy included, but was not limited to, urging Florida Governor Jeb Bush to intervene to stop the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube and counseling the governor as to the legality of his doing so. [4]
• Pledge of Allegiance- The law center has filed several amicus briefs in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court on behalf of itself, the Catholic League and others challenging rulings which have held that recitation of the Pledge by public school children violated the Establishment Clause because it contained the phrase "Under God." The law center has also offered free legal services to several schools dened the right to permit students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance
• Alabama Chief Judge Roy Moore - The law center defended Judge Moore with legal briefs when the Judge was ordered to remvoe the "moral foundation of law" monument (which included the Ten Commandments) he had placed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.
• Los Angeles County Seal - The law centers west coast office filed a federal lawsuit against Los Angeles County officials for their decision to remove a small cross from the county seal after they were threatened with lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. The law center also provided legal supervision to a ballot initiative to keep the cross on the seal.
• Mount Soledad cross - The center's west coast division attempted to intervene on behalf of the Citizens for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial, to prevent the city of San Diego from removing a 20ft cross from the existing Mt. Soledad war memoral. The intervention was denied, but the Law Center subsequently appealed to the United States Supreme Court, asking for a stay in destruction of the memorial, which was granted by Justice Anthony Kennedy.
• American Family Association v. Michigan State University - The Thomas More Law Center has sued Michigan State University over their policy of providing health care benefits to same-sex domestic partners employed by the university, potentially in violation of Michigans recently-enacted Defense of Marriage Act. This is the second such lawsuit the TMLC has filed, the first being against Ann Arbor Public Schools (that case was dismissed by the appeals court on a technicality).
• Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists - The Thomas More Law Center defended the American Coalition of Life Activists, twelve activists, and an affiliated organization on the grounds of the First Amendment Right to free speech. The ACLA had created Old West "Wanted" style posters of various abortion doctors, listing their names and addresses online. The posters were described as "a hit list for terrorists" by Gloria Feldt, the then president of the Planned Parenthood. This assertion was furthered by the fact that three of doctors on list were murdered and several wounded (after which the murdered doctors' names on the list were crossed out and the wounded doctors' names put in a gray font).

Theresa Marie Terri Schiavo (December 3, 1963 – March 31, 2005), from St. ... John Ellis Jeb Bush (born February 11, 1953), a Republican, is the forty-third and current Governor of Florida. ... The Pledge of Allegiance is a promise or oath of allegiance to the United States as represented by its national flag. ... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: District of Alaska District of Arizona Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California District of Guam District of Hawaii District of Idaho District of Montana... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Throughout history there have been many alliances and organizations known as the Catholic League, including: Catholic League (USA) - Civil rights group in the United States. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... The Pledge of Allegiance is a promise or oath of allegiance to the United States as represented by its national flag. ... For the baseball player, see Roy Moore (baseball). ... This article is about a list of ten religious commandments. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Map of California showing Los Angeles County. ... The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major American non-profit organization whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.[1] It works through litigation, legislation, and community... Mount Soledad is a prominent landmark in the city of San Diego, California, United States. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries  Atlas  Politics Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym... Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) has been an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1988. ... Michigan State University (MSU) is a co-educational public research university in East Lansing, Michigan USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act. ... “First Amendment” redirects here. ...

References

The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Thomas More Law Center website
• ProCon's Thomas More Law Center Bio
• Science Wars - Should Schools Teach Intelligent Design An October 2005 public debate hosted by the American Enterprise Institute that included the TMLC.
• Thomas More Law Center successfully defends Christian high school club against being forced to admit gay students Additional coverage
• Thomas More Law Center sues Florida town for refusing public Nativity displays
• In Intelligent Design Case, a Cause in Search of a Lawsuit, The New York Times, November 4, 2005.
• Thomas More Law Center vs ACLU on intelligent design
• Full text of Judge Jones' Kitzmiller v Dover ruling, dated December 20, 2005 (317.8 KB PDF file)
• Summary Opinion of Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists
• Creators of Anti-Abortion Web Site Told to Pay Millions
• Court reduces award to harassed abortion clinics