Thomas More Law Center

The Sword and Shield for People of Faith

Press Release

Federal Judge Orders School to Announce Conservative Student’s Statement on Proposal 3

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November 7, 2022

ANN ARBOR, MI — Finding that Skyline High School sought “to silence Plaintiffs’ appropriate speech as to Proposal 3,” Federal District Court Judge, Paul D. Borman, on November 4, ordered the school to read the conservative senior and Republican Club President’s statement “over the Skyline High School’s public address service during ordinary announcements on Monday, November 7, 2022.” The Court granted the Plaintiffs’ request for a Temporary Restraining Order once the announcement was modified to meet the Court’s concern. Nevertheless, despite Skyline’s continued objection to the modified announcement, the Court ordered the following announcement to be read:

Attention Students

Are you interested in joining our efforts to protect the health of women and children?

If proposal 3 is passed it would eliminate health and safety regulations, legalize late term and partial birth abortion, no longer require physicians to perform abortions, and eliminate informed consent laws.

If so, email us at skylinerepublicanclub@ gmail.com

On November 1, the Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed the federal lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the Ann Arbor Public Schools and officials of Skyline High School located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The lawsuit, claiming blatant discrimination, alleging several violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Equal Access Act, was filed on behalf of David Nielsen and his minor son, (“Plaintiff”), a senior and president of the Republican Club and the Republican Club as a separate plaintiff.

Erin Mersino, TMLC’s Chief of Supreme Court and Appellate Practice is handling the case. She commented, “The Constitution protects a student’s right to have a different viewpoint from others and share it within the walls of a public school. How else will students learn tolerance toward opinions to which they disagree or how to thrive in our pluralistic society?” The Supreme Court cautioned against viewpoint discrimination in the schools, warning it creates “enclaves of totalitarianism.”

Richard Thompson, TMLC President, stressed that one of TMLC’s main goals is defending students’ rights: “Public schools across our nation are stifling the free speech of conservative students and organizations. We are working to defend their constitutional rights — rights which the Supreme Court so famously said, they do not lose by merely entering the schoolhouse gate.”

Skyline High School officials routinely have allowed students and student groups to share pro-choice and left leaning viewpoints over its public address system to promote abortion, Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood. The school has also allowed student clubs to promote the Black Lives Matter movement, express views on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin trial, promote the idea of climate change, and promote the visit of a democratic congresswoman seeking re-election. In short, Skyline High School’s record shows it does not hesitate to share certain viewpoints over the morning announcements.

After Plaintiffs submitted their announcement, they received an email from the school stating that “your announcement is not going to be read or posted due to its political nature.” That same day, Plaintiffs met with the principal’s secretary who rejected the announcement and confirmed that the announcement was not read because, in his opinion, it was “political.” Given the school’s history of allowing other viewpoints to be shared freely, the school’s process and decision did not appear fair.

TMLC then sent a letter to the Ann Arbor Public Schools on behalf of Plaintiffs, requesting that the announcement be read. A few days later, they responded to TMLC but denied wrongdoing, while continuing to censor Plaintiffs’ speech. The next day, on November 1, TMLC filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The lawsuit, which claims blatant discrimination, alleges that the school violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and the Equal Access Act.

On November 2, TMLC filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, asking the Court to require that the announcement be shared over the school’s public address system at the earliest possible time. The Court held a hearing on November 4. The hearing lasted approximately 1.5 hours. At the end of the hearing, Judge Borman announced that the motion would be granted and published his ruling shortly afterward.

In his ruling, Judge Borman found that the “Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their First Amendment claim” and further that “Defendants seek to silence Plaintiffs’ appropriate speech by refusing to broadcast it with their morning announcements.”

Judge Borman’s order respects the idea that all students and student clubs should be treated equally, and none favored.

Click here to read the Federal Complaint

Click here to read the motion for Temporary Restraining Order

Click here to read Judge Borman’s Order granting the TRO

Thomas More Law Center Wins Landmark First Amendment Case for Every American in the U.S. Supreme Court

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July 1, 2021

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued a landmark First Amendment decision holding that Americans are free to support nonprofit organization without fear of harassment. In 2015, a federal lawsuit was filed against then-California Attorney General (AG) Kamala Harris, who had threatened severe sanctions against the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) if names and contact information of its major donors were not disclosed to her office.

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with TMLC, a leading national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in its case Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta. In doing so, SCOTUS held that California’s law requiring donor disclosure was facially unconstitutional.

“When it comes to the freedom of association,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the Court’s opinion, “the protections of the First Amendment are triggered not only by actual restrictions on an individual’s ability to join with others to further shared goals. The risk of a chilling effect on association is enough, because First Amendment freedoms need breathing space to survive.”

Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President and Chief Counsel, hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling as a “landmark victory for the First Amendment.” He said, “Today’s victory is attributable to the superb legal work of attorney John J. Bursch and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) legal team who represented TMLC in the Supreme Court, as well as San Francisco-based attorney Louis H. Castoria, who singlehandedly tried the case in the federal district court against a phalanx of California assistant district attorneys.”

Bursch, ADF senior counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy, said, “The Court has confirmed that every American is free to peacefully support causes they believe in without fear of harassment or intimidation.”

On March 24, 2015, then-California AG Harris threatened in a letter to TMLC that if the Law Center did not provide her office with a list of its major donors within 30 days, the Law Center could lose its right to solicit donations in California and TMLC’s officers and tax preparers could be held personally liable for any penalties. Rather than comply under threat, TMLC filed a federal case claiming the AG was violating TMLC’s and its donors’ First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of association, and the free exercise of religion, citing the 1958 SCOTUS ruling in NAACP v. Alabama as precedent.

A 3-day bench trial was held by Federal District Court Judge Manuel Real beginning on September 13, 2016. Auditors and investigators from the AG’s office testified that they never had a complaint against TMLC; they have never investigated TMLC; and they do not normally use major donation reports to start investigations.

On November 16, 2016, Judge Real permanently enjoined the AG from requiring TMLC to file a copy of its major donor list. The AG appealed Judge Real’s decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which vacated the injunction. On August 26, 2019, TMLC asked the U.S. Supreme Court (petition for certiorari) to review the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. The Supreme Court agreed, and on April 26, 2021, the Court heard oral arguments on the case.

In the Internet Age, where doxing one’s opponents has led to job loss, boycotts, ostracization, and violence, the fear of such repercussions should one’s charitable contributions become public could be enough to stymy giving, leaving the personal beliefs of many Americans to go unrepresented in the public square. While TMLC is considered by the media as a conservative Christian organization, an array of organizations across the political spectrum filed amicus briefs in support of the First Amendment arguments being made by the Thomas More Law Center.

To read the full opinion, click here.

Community Leader Who Stated, “All Lives Matter” Is Fired From His Job To Appease Black Lives Matter—Lawsuit Filed

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February 17, 2021

ANN ARBOR, MI – Rick Beaudin, a celebrated community booster, tireless volunteer and successful realtor in the town of Pinckney, Michigan, learned the hard way that publicly stating “All Lives Matter” will get you fired. Beaudin was fired by Joseph DeKroub, the owner of Re/Max Platinum real estate company after having worked for his company for over 20 years.

Beaudin’s offense? On June 11, 2020, after seeing on a community Facebook page that Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) planned a protest in Pinckney, he responded from his personal Facebook page: “Can’t we all just promote in Pinkney That All Lives Matter?

DeKroub fired him the next day to appease BLM—even though he had often touted Beaudin as one of the best promoters of his company. Sadly, the owner he had loyally served for years swiftly fired him because he was concerned about possible retaliation from BLM mobs and boycotts.

As a result, the Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan teamed up with James K. Fett, a prominent civil rights attorney to push back on the “cancel culture” which had victimized Beaudin. On February 4, 2021, Fett filed a four-count civil action on Beaudin’s behalf in the Livingston County Circuit Court. The Defendants include an Unknown Associate of Black Lives Matter, Re/Max of Michigan, Re/Max Platinum, and its owner, Joseph DeKroub (you can read the entire complaint linked below).

Rick Beaudin’s “All Lives Matter” post places him in good company. Black leaders like U.S. Republican Senator Tim Scott and Ben Carson, the former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and 2016 GOP presidential candidate, see nothing wrong with the phrase all lives matter.

Senator Scott, South Carolina’s first black senator since Reconstruction, said this on CNN’s “The Situation Room”:

“If it causes offense that I say, ‘all lives matter’ – black lives, white lives, police officers, jurists, all of us, even politicians, all of our lives matter – if that is somehow offensive to someone, that’s their issue not mine.”

Doctor Ben Carson as a 2016 presidential candidate, said this:

“Of course, all lives matter – and all lives includes black lives… We have to stop submitting to those who want to divide us into all the special interest groups and start thinking about what works for everybody.”

Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) is a political movement that started in response to the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, accused of murdering 17-year-old African American Trayvon Martin. The co-founder of BLM, Patrisse Cullors, has publicly admitted that she and co-founder Alicia Garza, are “trained Marxists.”

BLM has many faces: a Marxist revolutionary group that seeks to overthrow our government, a Twitter hashtag, and a political rallying cry. Whatever its form, BLM uses every opportunity to inflame racial tensions and incite anti-American and anti-police violence. Astonishingly, despite BLM’s murky organization and affiliations, some of America’s largest businesses have donated millions to BLM including Amazon, Microsoft and Gatorade.

Clearly, “All Lives Matter” is meant as a unifying term that promotes racial equality. Rick Beaudin had every reason to be concerned about a BLM protest in Pinckney. It has been involved in scores of riots across the Nation involving deaths, injuries, looting and the destruction of businesses estimated at between 1 and 2 billion dollars.

Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, observed that, “BLM is a Marxist organization, virulently anti-Jewish and anti-American which seeks to incite race wars, chaos, and mob violence. Its purpose is to destroy America by destroying her Judeo-Christian values and constitutionally protected right to free speech.”

Continued Thompson, “Just last week about 100 BLM protesters converged in Manhattan, New York in a defund the police demonstration which turned violent, injuring two police officers and resulting in 11 arrests. Last year, May 30, 2020, in Fairfax, a Los Angeles community, BLM members vandalized 5 synagogues, three Jewish schools and looted Jewish businesses. They chanted “F**k the police and kill the Jews.”

Click here to read the entire complaint

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.

Renowned Epidemiologist Aids St. Michael Academy’s Challenge of Michigan’s Lockdown as Thomas More Law Center Files Suit

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December 14, 2020

St. Michael Academy, a small private independent Catholic high school located in Petoskey, Michigan has a total of 30 high school students. St. Michael is challenging Michigan’s current MDHHS order which has shut down in-person instruction at high schools across the state on the bogus claim that it is “following the science.” Citing to the recent Roman Catholic Diocese opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court that observes, “even in a pandemic the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten,” the Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a lawsuit on behalf of St. Michael late Friday in the federal district court for the Western District of Michigan.

In an astonishing turn of events, St. Michael was able to enlist the support of a world-renowned epidemiologist and expert on the spread of COVID-19, Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya, a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Bhattacharya is an author of 136 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has provided testimony relating to COVID-19 to both federal and state governmental bodies. He is assisting St. Michael Academy without charge, as is the Law Center.

Dr. Bhattacharya has already filed an affidavit in the case. He points out that MDHHS’s orders shutting down schools to in-person instruction are inconsistent with the best scientific evidence regarding the safety of students and the guidelines provided by the World Health Organization. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, supports the WHO guidelines.

Moreover, Dr. Bhattacharya, citing to July guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, warns that prohibiting in-person instruction potentially causes tremendous damage to students, including: severe learning loss, widening disparities in educational outcomes, hampered development of social and emotional skills, potential harm to mental health, exposure to heightened risk of maltreatment and abuse at home, nutritional deprivation of poor children, and a sharp reduction in regular physical activity.

Dr. Richard A. Brake, the Headmaster of St. Michael Academy, is not only in charge of the academic and spiritual development of St. Michael students but also of the development and implementation of the Academy’s plans to keep its students safe from the COVID-19 virus. He and his staff kept up in-person instruction this school year, until the November 15, 2020 shutdown order was issued by the state. Thus far, St. Michael has not experienced any cases of COVID-19 among its students, faculty, or staff.

Dr. Brake believes that banning in-person instruction precludes the Academy from exercising its religious freedom to inculcate in its students the sense of awe and wonder about all of God’s creation, encouraging them to look beyond the temporal and mundane towards the eternal and transcendent. Education and formation at St. Michael Academy involve prayer, worship, devotional practices and the Socratic method. These are not effective when done remotely, with students looking at computer screens.

Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President, observed, “No one denies that slowing the COVID‑19 pandemic is a compelling state interest. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s November 25, 2020 decision in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v Cuomo held that, even so, where a state’s COVID-19 mitigation law burdens religious exercise and is not neutral, as in our case, states must narrowly tailor their edicts to meet the state interest in the least restrictive manner. The State of Michigan cannot suspend a fundamental right of the people to the free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment.”

Thompson added, “And based on the scientific evidence that very few children under the age of 19 suffer or die as a result of COVID-19 infection, and rarely transmit the virus to other children or adults, weighed against all the negative ramifications of keeping children home, the state cannot meet the ‘strict scrutiny’ test which demands that it address its interests by the least restrictive means. Experts like the CDC Director are now saying that one of the safest places for students during this pandemic is in school.”

Click here to read St. Michael’s filed Complaint

Click here to read Dr. Bhattacharya’s 20-page Affidavit

Please support the Thomas More Law Center’s mission by clicking here.

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.

Thomas More Law Center Proud To Be Co-Sponsor Of National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day

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ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is honored once again to partner as a co-sponsor in National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day today, Friday, May 8.

Hosted by the Culture of Life Studies Program and Life Defenders, the goal of NPLTD is to empower young people to “speak up and defend the preborn, the elderly, the disabled, and the most vulnerable among us” by wearing their favorite t-shirt with a pro-life message.

While the original date was scheduled for April 3, due to the unforeseen pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the organizers postponed National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day until today. While many schools remain closed, the Culture of Life Studies and Life Defenders remain hopeful a large social media presence will dominate the internet today from prolifers using the hashtag #NPLTD20 to create awareness and drum up support for the pro-life movement.

TMLC remains a steadfast supporter of National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day.

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org. 

Eagle Forum Files Brief Supporting Thomas More Law Center’s ‘Federalism Challenge’ to Tennessee Refugee Resettlement Program

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April 21, 2020

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Eagle Forum and its Tennessee chapter added their influential voices urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant the Thomas More Law Center’s request to review (“petition for certiorari”) a Sixth Circuit Court decision which held that the Tennessee General Assembly lacked institutional standing to challenge the federal refugee resettlement program. Their amicus brief (“friend of the court brief”), authored by Nashville attorney Joanne Bregman, was filed late last week.

Bregman observed, “The ongoing conversations between the President and state governors concerning recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing a renewed interest in federalism – the same constitutional principle of dual sovereignty which is the basis of the General Assembly’s lawsuit against federal commandeering of state dollars to fund the federal refugee resettlement program.”

The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and John Bursch, a nationally prominent appellate lawyer are representing the General Assembly without charge. Bursch authored the General Assembly’s petition for certiorari which, asks the Supreme Court to overturn the Sixth Circuit’s ruling.

The petition for certiorari, filed on March 16, 2020, objects to forcing Tennessee taxpayers to pay the costs of the resettlement: “If a state legislature cannot vindicate its rights in court when the federal government picks the state’s pocket and threatens the state if it dare stop providing funds, then federalism is a dead letter.”

The Eagle Forum, a national conservative organization with 80,000 members founded by the late legendary Phyllis Schlafly in 1972, has significantly impacted public policy at both state and national levels. The Tennessee chapter headed by Mrs. Bobbie Patray was the first state chapter to question the power of the federal government to coerce state legislators to use state revenues to fund the federal refugee resettlement program.

Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President and Chief Counsel, commented: “Justice Scalia considered the principles of federalism, the same principles that undergird our challenge to the federal refugee resettlement program, more important to the American democracy than the Bill of Rights. Considering the continued controversy between the Nation’s governors and the President over the best way to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, a grant of certiorari would present the Supreme Court with an opportunity to calm the waters over their conflicting claims of power by expounding on Federalism 101.”

Continued Thompson, “Because of the significance of this issue, I’m grateful that the Eagle Forum and its Tennessee chapter were able to assist our efforts to obtain Supreme Court review.”

According to the amicus brief: “Forcing state legislators to expend state resources outside of the normal appropriations process directly interferes with their duties to the state and to their constituents.  If the federal government cannot compel a state to fund federal programs, then a state should not be forced to divert funding from essential and traditional state government services in order to operationalize a federal program from which the state has withdrawn.”

Tennessee initially agreed to participate in the federal refugee resettlement program. But when the federal government refused to cover the state costs as it originally promised and as the 1980 Refugee Act intended, Tennessee withdrew from the program in 2008. Nevertheless, the federal government merely designated Catholic Charities of Tennessee, a non-governmental private organization, to continue the program while still forcing the state to pay for it.

Bregman notes the threat to state sovereignty powers by federally coerced spending, especially at a time when the needs of Tennessee’s citizens are dire, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of deadly tornadoes which ripped through 100 miles of Tennessee counties.

The amicus brief concludes, “There is no room in the Constitution’s framework to permit the federal government or its agencies to take state funds without the express consent of the state’s appropriating body.”

Read the Eagle Forums’ entire amicus brief here.

Read TMLC’s Petition for Certiorari here.

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.