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Key Court
Decisions
Scheidler
and Operation Rescue v. National Organization for Women
U.S. Supreme
Court
On February 26,
2003, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the use
of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO)
statute - a law designed to combat drug dealers and organized crime
- could not be used against the pro-life movement. The Supreme Court
forcefully rejected the argument that pro-life demonstrators were
racketeers engaged in extortion. The decision removes a cloud that
has been hanging over the pro-life movement for 15 years.
Hill
v. Colorado
U.S. Supreme Court
Jay
Sekulow argued this case before the Supreme Court in 2000. The case
involves the free speech rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors
in Colorado. The Court upheld a Colorado law that severely restricts
pro-life free speech activity outside medical facilities, including
abortion mills. The law imposed criminal sanctions on those attempting
to approach women entering medical facilities for the purpose of
communicating with them.
Stenberg
v. Carhart
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme
Court struck down a Nebraska law banning partial birth abortion,
holding that the law imposed an undue burden on a woman's right
to abort her baby.
Schenck
v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York
U.S. Supreme Court
In this
abortion protesters case, the Supreme Court held that a "floating
buffer zone" (in which protestors could not approach within
15 feet of a person or vehicle entering or exiting abortion clinics)
would unduly interfere with the abortion protester's First Amendment
rights, and was therefore unconstitutional. ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay
Sekulow argued this case before the Supreme Court.
Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health
Clinic
U.S. Supreme Court
In this
Supreme Court case argued by Jay Sekulow, the High Court ruled that
Ku Klux Klan Act cannot be applied to Operation Rescue's abortion
protest activities.
Diaz
v. Riverside Health Services
U.S. District Court in Riverside, California
A U.S. District Court jury in Riverside, Calif., ruled that
Riverside County violated the constitutional rights of a nurse who
was fired from her job after she refused to dispense medication
known as a "morning-after" pill. The case began in December
2000 when the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) filed
suit against the Riverside Neighborhood Health Center on behalf
of Michelle Diaz, who worked as a Clinic Health Nurse at the center.
Following a four-day trial in federal court that ended May 24th,
the jury found the county was liable on all three counts presented:
violated her First Amendment rights of free speech; violated her
rights of freedom of religion; and, failed to reasonably accommodate
her religious beliefs. The jury also awarded damages totaling more
than $47,000 - including $19,000 in damages for back pay, and more
than $28,000 in damages for emotional distress.
Brauer v. Kmart
U.S. District Court, OH
Kmart
fired a pharmacist who refused to dispense abortion-producing drugs
to the store's customers. The ACLJ filed suit, arguing that the
pharmacist should be reinstated, pursuant to a state "conscience
law" which protects people who do not want to be involved in
medical procedures which result in abortion. The case will be proceeding
to trial soon.
Reverend James L. Rudd v. Charland,
et al.
U.S. District Court Washington D.C.
The ACLJ reached an agreement with the Washington D.C. metro police,
settling a federal civil rights suit brought by a local pastor.
The suit charged that police wrongly applied the Freedom of Access
to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which criminalizes interference
with access to abortion against the pastor. The agreement requires
police officers to receive training on proper enforcement of the
FACE statute.
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