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April 1, 2011

A Michigan Federal Judge yesterday ordered a Detroit-area transportation authority to display an anti-Jihad advertisement on its buses. Judge Denise Page Hood granted an injunction request filed by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) to reverse the bus authority’s refusal to display the ads, which state, “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you?  Leaving Islam?  Got questions? Get Answers!”

The ad was sponsored by the Freedom Defensive Initiative (FDI), which was founded by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.

When the ad request was refused last summer, TMLC, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Law Offices of David Yerushalmi, P.C., filed the lawsuit against the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) on behalf of the ad’s sponsors.   The lawsuit asked the Court to issue a preliminary injunction to permit the ad to run pending the final outcome of the litigation.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), commented, “TMLC’s Senior Trial Lawyer Rob Muise and David Yerushalmi have successfully represented FDI in several cases.  Judge Hood’s instant decision represents a victory for free speech, but the battle is not over. Other battles loom on the horizon.”

An evidentiary hearing on the injunction request was held in July 2010.  Judge Hood granted the injunction, finding that “[t]here is a strong likelihood that Plaintiffs could succeed in demonstrating that Defendant’s decision not to run the advertisement was not reasonable, but rather arbitrary and capricious.”  The Judge also ruled that the loss of Plaintiffs’ First Amendment freedoms “for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury . . . sufficient to justify injunctive relief,” and that “[b]ased on Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits, it is in the public’s interest to grant the preliminary injunction.”

Read Judge Hood’s Decision Here

In the past, SMART had no problem running an anti-religion ad sponsored by an atheist organization that stated, “Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone.”

TMLC Senior Trial Counsel Rob Muise, commented, “In this environment of political correctness, it is encouraging to see decisions such as this one that uphold our basic constitutional freedoms.”

March 23, 2011

Tulsa, Oklahoma police captain Paul Fields refused to order his officers to attend an Islamic propaganda event staged by a local mosque with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.  As a result, Captain Fields, a 16-year police veteran, has been stripped of his command and is now the subject of an internal investigation.

TMLC announced today it has joined Tulsa, Oklahoma attorney Scott Wood to defend Captain Fields’ constitutional right not to become a propaganda prop for the local mosque. As you know, TMLC is heavily involved in litigation defending the religious freedom of Christians as well as countering the infiltration of radical Muslims in America.

The Mosque event, dubbed, “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day,” had nothing to do with any official police function.  It clearly fell outside of the police department’s policy on community policing, and based on comments made by police department officials in a closed door meeting, it was not “community outreach” as it has been previously portrayed in the media.  Rather, it included a mosque tour, meetings with local Muslims and Muslim leadership, observing a “weekly prayer service,” and lectures on Islamic “beliefs.”  The event was scheduled for Friday, March 4, 2011—Friday being the “holy day” or “Sabbath” for Islam.  In fact, the event was originally voluntary, but when not enough officers were willing to attend, it became mandatory.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for TMLC, commented: “This case is an astonishing example of a double standard.  If this were a Catholic or Protestant prayer event, no one would have been ordered to attend, and no one would have been punished for refusing to attend.  It is a prime example of government officials over-stepping their authority when it comes to government intrusion on an employee’s constitutionally protected freedoms.”

The photo at the right shows Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan at the event shaking hands with CAIR Oklahoma Director Muneer Awad, the very person who filed the federal lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s anti-Sharia constitutional amendment, which was approved by 70 percent of the state’s voters (It is unknown if Chief Jordan knew of Awad’s identity at the time of this handshake). CAIR was listed an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism trial.

Moreover, the Law Enforcement Appreciation event was held just five days after the Tulsa mosque hosted a dinner featuring Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

In a written response to the order from his superior, Captain Fields stated that he considered the order to be “an unlawful order, as it is in direct conflict with [his] personal religious convictions, as well as to be conscience shocking.” He also told his superiors that he would not require any of his subordinates to follow the order “if they share similar religious convictions.”

Captain Fields is fighting back.  TMLC and local attorney Wood have filed a civil rights action against the City of Tulsa, its chief of police, and its deputy chief of police, alleging that the City and its officials violated Captain Fields’ fundamental constitutional rights by ordering him to the mosque under penalty of adverse employment consequences.

Click Here to See Amended Complaint and Exhibits

Robert Muise, Senior Trial Counsel for TMLC handling the case, stated, “The City of Tulsa Police Department and its highest ranking officials are not only willfully blind to the threat that sharia (Islamic law) poses in their own community, they are willfully blind to the fundamental rights that our very own Constitution provides to its American citizens, including Captain Fields.  In effect, as the Amended Complaint sets out in greater detail, the City’s police department and its officials are unwittingly complicit in the Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘civilization jihadist process,’ to the detriment of one of its most loyal and competent police officers.”

The American Legion “Fighting District 21” unanimously adopted a Resolution at its Sunday, March 6, 2011 meeting, which calls upon Congress to reinstate the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.  After the November 2010 elections, the lame duck 111th Congress repealed the law, which prevented open homosexuals from serving in our armed forces.

Rees Lloyd, past Commander of District 21 and co-founder and director of Defense of Veterans Memorials Project of the American Legion, hopes that Legionnaires, other veterans, and patriots will support this Resolution and call on the 112th Congress, individually and collectively, to reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

According to Lloyd, the Resolution was inspired by two of America’s greatest living military heroes – Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton (USN, ret.), a POW for nearly eight years in Vietnam; and Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady (USA, ret.), a Medal of Honor recipient.

Admiral Jeremiah Denton serves as Chairman of the Thomas More Law Center’s Citizens Advisory Board.

Click here to view and print the Resolution

Last month, Admiral Denton and General Brady published an urgent “Joint Statement” in WorldNetDaily’s monthly magazine, Whistleblower, which called on all Americans—and veterans in particular—to take a stand and fight for reinstatement of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.

Click here to read the joint statement

The Thomas More Law Center applauds the efforts of Rees Lloyd and the “Fighting District 21” to reinstate the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.

February 22, 2011

The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) announced today that the City of Dearborn, its Mayor, John B. O’Reilly, its Chief of Police, Ronald Haddad, 17 City police officers, and two executives of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce were named as defendants in a ninety-six page federal civil rights lawsuit filed in the Federal District Court in Detroit this morning.

The lawsuit, brought by TMLC and co-counsel and Sharia law expert, David Yerushalmi, stems from two separate police actions at the June 2010 Dearborn, Michigan Annual International Arab Festival.

Richard Thompson, TMLC President and Chief Counsel, commented, “Muslims dominate the political and law enforcement process in Dearborn.  It seems that police were more interested in placating the Mayor and Muslims than obeying our Constitution.  Sharia law makes it a crime to preach the Gospel to Muslims.  This is a classic example of stealth Jihad being waged right here in America.  And it should be a wake-up call for all patriotic Americans.”

The first incident occurred on June 18, when police jailed four Christian missionaries when they witnessed Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, a Muslim convert to Christianity, peaceably discussing his Christian faith with Muslim youths.  The other three, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla, and Negeen Mayel, were arrested along with Qureshi for allegedly “breaching the peace.”  The Christians were led away in handcuffs by police to the applause and cheers of Muslim onlookers who just witnessed a victory of Sharia law over the Christians.

Watch Video of Arrest

The second incident occurred on June 20, as two missionaries, Rezkalla and Josh Hogg, stood on the public sidewalk handing out the Gospel of John to passersby willing to take them.  The Christians were there for approximately 5 minutes when eight City police officers descended upon them, seized them, and brought them to the police command trailer located inside the festival where the Christians were admonished, photographed, and ordered to stop their peaceful religious activity.

Watch Video of Police Seizure

The police assaults and arrests of the Christians, captured on video, caused a national furor over the lawless tactics of the City’s police department.
Dearborn is considered home to the largest Muslim population in America.  As a result, it is evident that City officials, including the Mayor, engaged in this unconstitutional official action solely to please this significant voting bloc and to submit to its will.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Acts 17 Apologetics, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla, Negeen Mayel and Josh Hogg.

Read the Law Center’s Federal Complaint here

Robert Muise, TMLC’s Senior Trial Counsel who is handling the matter, stated, “While the videos of the police violating the fundamental constitutional rights of our clients are utterly shocking, it is perhaps even more shocking that City officials, including the Mayor, would engage in a propaganda campaign to smear the good reputation of these Christians even after they were acquitted by a jury of the bogus criminal charges.  All of this is strong evidence of the fact that Sharia is negatively influencing the City and its officials.”