http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/255735
Posted Jun 5, 2008 by Johnny Simpson

Thomas More Law Center, ACLU in Full-Blown Legal and Ideological War


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Here's a recent headline in which the Thomas More Law Center played a major role:

'US Marine acquitted of all charges in Haditha killings'

A court martial on Wednesday acquitted a US Marine for his role in the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha in Iraq in 2005, the sixth man to be exonerated in the affair, a military official said.

Lieutenant Andrew Grayson, 27, was declared "not guilty on all charges" by a jury, said a spokesman for the Camp Pendleton military base in southern California where the hearing started on May 28.

Grayson had been charged with making false statements and attempting to fraudulently separate from the Marine Corps. He was also charged with obstruction of justice, but the military judge dismissed this charge Tuesday.

He was the first Marine to stand trial in connection with the killings of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, the most serious war crime allegations leveled at US forces since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.


A lot more on this controversial case at the TMLC website, including a successful motion in the case by TMLC lawyers claiming Unlawful Command Influence (UCI), which could result in a dismissal of the case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chesani, whom the TMLC is defending.

The Thomas More Law Center defines their organization as follows:

The Thomas More Law Center is a not-for-profit public interest law firm dedicated to the defense and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.

Our purpose is to be the sword and shield for people of faith, providing legal representation without charge to defend and protect Christians and their religious beliefs in the public square.

We achieve this goal principally through litigation, seeking out significant cases, consistent with our mission, where our expertise can be of service to others. We also defend and promote faith and family through media and educational efforts.

Above all, the lawyers of the Thomas More Center seek to meet the highest moral and ethical standards of our Christian faith and our legal profession.


They are and have been involved in some of the most prominent legal cases in America, and usually their most ardent foe in court is the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU.

The ACLU defines themselves as follows:

The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:

Your First Amendment rights - freedom of speech, association and assembly; freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.

Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.

Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.

Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

We work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.

If the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everyone's rights are imperiled.


Where you'll find TMLC lawyers defending the Haditha Marines and the worst offenders of Political Correctness, you'll find the ACLU defending the worst of the worst, most notably the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, and defending PC champions everywhere.

Where you'll find the TMLC defending the placement of crosses in public parks and war memorials, you'll usually find the ACLU behind the inciting motions to have them removed.

Where the TMLC has filed suit against schools that discriminated against students wearing pro-life tee shirts, the ACLU has defended students wearing pro-choice tee shirts, or worse.

Ironically, The TMLC and ACLU are not always at such legal loggerheads.

The ACLU is on the side of the TMLC in the pro-life tee shirt imbroglio, and they are both firmly behind Ms. Crystal Dixon, who was fired from her HR job at the University of Toledo for writing an OpEd with a Christian perspective in the Toledo Free Press.

Both legal centers enjoy tremendous political and financial support at their opposite ends of the political spectrum, and though I have never been much of a fan of the ACLU, I think the TMLC goes a little overboard at times as well.

Ultimately, this humble DJ hack scribe is of the opinion that both organizations serve very useful and necessary purposes in our legal systems, and our society at large.

Both are willing to go the distance for the most unpopular of defendants and causes, and both give their utmost in court, sometimes before the highest court in the land.

Sometimes the rulings go in their favor, sometimes they don't.

But it's one magnificent legal and ideological war to watch.

And we are a better nation for it.

And on those rare occasions where they find themselves on the same side, as in the case of Crystal Dixon, or students who wear offensive tee shirts, they show one of the greatest qualities of America and Americans: no matter how much we may not like each other at times, that doesn't mean we can't come together and fight when we see it's necessary.

And woe to the unfortunate offenders who find themselves in the gunsights of both.