Attorneys with the Thomas More Society recently secured settlements in two major religious liberty cases: South Bay United Pentecostal Church, et al. v. Newsom, et al. and Father Trevor Burfitt v. Newsom, et al. The State of California agreed to pay $2,150,000 in “prevailing party” attorneys’ fees to settle both cases ($1,600,000 in South Bay…
CNA—A multitude of pro-life bills passed through state legislatures last week, creating new protections for the unborn around the country. The enactment of pro-life bills is the continuation of efforts at the state level to put restrictions in place on abortion. According to a report published April 30 by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 536 pro-life…
LifeSiteNews—Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt today signed a bill into law that that would ban abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable. Last Tuesday, the state Senate passed the heartbeat bill and two other pro-life measures and today Stitt signed them into law. “I’m keeping my promise to sign all pro-life legislation. We now have…
CNA—A Christian college in Missouri sued the Biden administration last week over an order requiring single-sex dorms or bathrooms to be available to members of the opposite biological sex. The College of the Ozarks, a Christian liberal arts college, claimed that an executive order from President Joe Biden would require the college to violate its…
A state judge has ruled Texas can defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Siding with state officials, a judge in Travis County declined Planned Parenthood’s bid to block state officials from removing the abortion company from the state Medicaid program. State District Judge Lora Livingston said Planned Parenthood did not prove its contention that state…
CNA—The Supreme Court of Ireland ruled Friday that a hospital may withhold medical treatment contrary to the wishes of the parents of a child with severe injuries. “The withholding of treatment to a child does not necessarily require parental consent to be lawful if it based on a properly made decision as to the best…
(January 8, 2021 – New York, New York) Religious freedom received validation this week from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case of two Catholic priests, two Catholic school students, and four Orthodox Jewish individuals who are suing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Thomas More Society attorneys are representing…
New York Post—The usual mainstream-media suspects wasted no time in blasting as inappropriate Samuel Alito’s address last week to the Federalist Society. Which is another way of saying they didn’t like what he had to say. The Supreme Court justice warned that “religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right,” that freedom of speech is…
CNA—The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in the latest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act. How the court might decide the case was a crucial part of Democratic opposition to the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the court last month. In the cases of California v. Texas and Texas v. California,…
After a unanimous vote by the Judiciary Committee last week, the Senate on October 26, 2020, confirmed Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett to become the 115th Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. “Having confirmed her to the Circuit Court in 2017 with bipartisan support, the Senate has already undertaken…
CNA—Following the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18, speculation on who President Donald Trump will nominate to replace the Justice has focused on Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who currently serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Who is Amy Coney Barrett? Barrett first…
National Review—Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School student who sued major news outlets in the aftermath of their coverage of a controversial interaction he and several of his classmates had with a Native American activist, said Friday that he has settled his libel lawsuit against the Washington Post. “On 2/19/19, I filed $250M defamation…
A Quick Summary of what this article covers includes the following: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act offers religious nonprofits a valuable tool in this time of crisis: increased tax incentives for donors making charitable contributions. CARES § 2204 temporarily modifies the federal tax code to create an above-the-line deduction in 2020…
On April 8, 2020 (and again on April 13 and 14, 2020), the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued new “Frequently Asked Questions” providing clarifications regarding various aspects of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans established through sections 1102 and 1106 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act or the Act). The…
April 2, 2020-See byline details at end of article—Bottom Line: The CARES Act contains two loan programs which could potentially impact faith-based organizations. As of this writing, there are significant unanswered questions about the impact acceptance of these funds would have on a recipient’s ability to pursue its mission and maintain its religious identity. We are…
New York Post—CNN has agreed to settle a multi-million dollar defamation suit filed by Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann over the network’s depiction of his 2019 encounter with Native American activists. The network is one of three news outlets named by the 16-year-old Kentucky student in a lawsuit seeking a combined $800 million…
Washington D.C., Oct 7, 2019-CNA – The Archbishop of Washington, D.C. exhorted Supreme Court justices to “rejoice” in the Holy Spirit at the annual Red Mass on Sunday in D.C. In his homily, celebrant Archbishop Wilton Gregory noted that “Saint Luke wrote the passage that we just heard saying that Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.”…
Daily Report, Law.com—“This case serves as a stark reminder that our abortion jurisprudence has spiraled out of control,” Justice Clarence Thomas said. “Although this case does not present the opportunity to address our demonstrably erroneous ‘undue burden’ standard, we cannot continue blinking the reality of what this Court has wrought.” On the same day that abortion-rights advocates…
CNS—The 1983 Code of Canon Law did not anticipate crimes being committed by bishops that could result in their laicization, according to a canon law professor at The Catholic University of America. Jesuit Father Robert Kaslyn, who has taught courses in laicization, said the Second Vatican Council has also made it more complicated to remove…
There are so many ways to be unethical, sadly, and such behavior shows itself in every conceivable human endeavor and profession. Among those who relentlessly pursue self-interest and power—and who will use every deception and falsehood to do so in the name of a twisted sense of “justice,” elections tend to bring out the most…
