Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
PHOENIX, AZ – Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief last week to the Arizona Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood Arizona v. Mayes, where Planned Parenthood is challenging the potential reinstatement of the state's near-total abortion ban from 1864, which has exceptions for life-threatening emergencies, but had been blocked by 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Liberty Counsel’s petition for writ of certiorari regarding a request to review a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals against Sandra Merritt in Planned Parenthood’s multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit for her undercover investigation of the abortion giant. The High Court’s denial of review was without any comment. The implications of this civil case have far-reaching First Amendment consequences involving free speech and undercover journalism.
WASHINGTON D.C. – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed lawsuits against private companies who failed to grant employee religious exemptions from the COVID-19 shot. Last week, the agency sued two companies under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act claiming that they violated federal law by refusing to accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs of employees and not letting them opt out of their shot mandates.
CINCINNATI, OH – The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 yesterday to enforce laws protecting gender-confused minors in Kentucky and Tennessee from receiving puberty blockers, hormones, and medical mutilating surgery.
In L.W. v. Skrmetti and Doe v. Thornbury, the Sixth Circuit reversed a preliminary injunction and rejected a challenge by families of gender-confused children who had argued that the previous bans discriminated on the basis of sex.
SACRAMENTO, CA – California is suing two pro-life pregnancy resource centers in the state to stop them from advertising abortion pill reversal (APR) services claiming that the natural hormone used to reverse the abortion pill is “risky” and “has no credible scientific backing” to validate its safety and efficacy.
PASADENA, CA – The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that California’s San Jose Unified School District wrongly denied official on-campus status to Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ (FCA) student clubs because of their core religious beliefs on marriage and sexuality. While FCA clubs welcome everyone, school district officials removed the clubs from all its high schools in 2019 claiming the FCA violated the district’s non-discrimination policies for requiring students interested in leadership positions to affirm “that sexual relations should be within the confines of a marriage between a man and a woman.”
WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Defense (DOD) has now retracted the “gender-neutral language” it quietly implemented for the six most prestigious joint service military award citations. The Pentagon previously changed the Manual of Military Decorations and Awards to use the grammatically incorrect word “themself,” instead of “himself” or “herself,” to describe heroic or distinguished actions.
VIGO COUNTY, IN – After Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to public school administrators at Vigo County School Corporation, they are no longer requiring a male middle school P.E. teacher to supervise a gender-confused girl who has been permitted to change in the boys’ locker room. However, the school district continues to not inform the boys that a biological girl would be undressing with them in the open locker room area. School officials also have not informed parents about the situation.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Last month, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals placed restrictions on the distribution of the chemical abortion pill Mifepristone after determining that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated federal law, ignored science, and failed to put the health and safety of women first while placing and keeping the drug on the market.
ASHLAND, KY – Liberty Counsel will file a judgment notwithstanding the verdict to U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning next week in response to the jury rendering $100,000 against former Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis in Ermold v. Davis. Essentially, the jury had no basis or evidence to support their verdict.
ST. LOUIS, MO – The Washington University Pediatric “Transgender Center” at St. Louis Children’s Hospital announced Monday that it will no longer provide harmful puberty blockers or hormone therapies to children due to Missouri’s Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act that is now in effect. Since February 2023, Washington University has been under a multi-agency investigation accused of lying to parents and harming hundreds of children with mutilating gender procedures.
ASHLAND, KY – In the trial before U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning, the jury in Ermold v. Davis rendered $100,000 against former Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis. The plaintiffs asked for $50,000 each in damages, for a total of $100,000, alleging that David Ermold was terminated from the University of Pikeville because of the Kim Davis case. However, the Human Resource Director testified that was not true and that Ermold’s position was downsized along with other positions. Losing their basis to allege damages, the Ermold plaintiffs then changed gears during the trial to allege they should receive damages for hurt feelings.
ASHLAND, KY – In the trial before U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning, the jury in Yates v. Davis returned a verdict of zero damages against former Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis. The plaintiffs originally asked for $300,000 in damages. The jury deliberated for about 45 minutes before returning the verdict.
NEW ORLEANS, LA – The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans by coercing social media companies to censor posts about COVID-19, elections, and other content the administration considered “problematic.” The Court modified a preliminary injunction issued by a lower court and now restricts the White House, the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the FBI from improperly influencing social media content policies while the case continues in litigation.
NEW YORK CITY, NY – The New York Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that 10 New York City teachers previously fired for refusing the COVID-19 shot according to their religious convictions must be reinstated effective immediately. The Court’s order stated the city denied the teachers’ religious accommodations in an “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable” manner awarding not just their jobs back but also all backpay, seniority, benefits, and attorney’s fees.
Liberty Counsel has sent a demand letter to Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) in Hayward, California and its superintendent, Dr. Jason Reimann, for discriminating against Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) by not allowing its Good News Club to meet on the Fairview Elementary School campus while allowing other clubs to meet. Since January 2023, CEF has requested three distinct times to resume holding the after-school club in an available classroom, but HUSD has denied all three requests without explanation.
Today, Liberty Counsel filed the reply brief for the petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals against Sandra Merritt in Planned Parenthood’s multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit for her undercover investigation of the abortion giant. The implications of this civil case have far-reaching First Amendment consequences involving free speech and undercover journalism.
NEW YORK CITY, NY – Even though Scholastic has been known as the largest publisher and distributor of children’s books for many years, the company is taking advantage of its platform to promote a blatant LGBTQ agenda to innocent minors.
Scholastic provides classroom teachers and students in public and private pre-K through high school access to books through book clubs and book fairs. Classroom teachers and early childhood directors actively use Scholastic Book Clubs to allow students to purchase the company’s books. Teachers are also given free books and resources delivered directly to their classrooms. Scholastic Book Fairs are weeklong in-school events where the company provides the books, planning tools, and display cases and are run by volunteer parents, teachers, and school librarians.
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court allowed the state’s new law banning harmful puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and mutilating surgeries for children to take effect during continued litigation.
GOLIAD, TX – Goliad County in Southeast Texas joined a growing movement to protect unborn babies last Monday by enacting a “Sanctuary County for the Unborn” ordinance becoming the 71st local government in the nation to adopt such a measure. These local protections have birthed out of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn (SCFTU) initiative created to keep abortion out of communities, especially in communities close to the U.S.-Mexico border often targeted by the abortion industry.