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Ground Zero Mosque Opponents Prevail in Bus Ad Controversy

August 24, 2010 by

August 24, 2010

ANN ARBOR, MI – New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) buses are now displaying ads opposing the Ground Zero Mosque. MTA reversed its earlier refusals to display the ads only after a federal lawsuit was filed.

New York attorney David Yerushalmi and the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed the lawsuit against the MTA and its chief executive, Jay H. Walder, on August 6, 2010.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI), and its officers, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, after their failed attempts to get MTA to honor the fully-paid contract for the ads. The lawsuit alleged violations of the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and the equal protection of the law.

The federal lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on August 23, 2010, after MTA representatives agreed to display the ads as originally contracted and the buses started to run on the City’s streets with the ads.

The dramatic ad questioned why the proposed Ground Zero Mosque had to be placed so close to the Twin Towers destroyed in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks by Muslim terrorists. Ground Zero, considered by Americans as hallowed ground, is the site of the attack carried out by Muslims in the name of Islam that killed 3,000 innocent people.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, “There is a pattern developing whereby municipal transportation authorities across the country are refusing to run FDI ads they deem offensive to Muslims. It’s only when they are prodded by litigation do they recognize that the constitutional right to freedom of speech trumps their attempts at political correctness.”

Continued Thompson, “Imam Rauf’s attempt to build the Ground Zero Mosque is an act of provocation and insensitivity. The Law Center applauds Pam Geller and Robert Spencer for their courageous efforts to expose the Imam’s advancement of Sharia Law in the United States.”

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. 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.

Victory for California Middle School Student: Pro-Life T-Shirt is Protected Free Speech

August 17, 2010 by

August 17, 2010

ANN ARBOR, MI – Nearly two years later and before the case ever went to trial, a federal court in California entered a judgment on Thursday, August 12, 2010, in favor of a middle school student’s right to wear a pro-life t-shirt to school. The judgment signifies yet another victory in one student’s courageous mission to speak out against abortion.

Tiffany Amador, then a sixth-grade student at McSwain Union Elementary School, wore several different pro-life t-shirts to school throughout the year to make known her strong belief that abortion is wrong. On April 29, 2008, Tiffany donned one of her pro-life t-shirts for National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day. That morning in school, while attempting to eat breakfast, Tiffany was forcefully directed into the principal’s office and ordered to remove her t-shirt. Prior to this incident, Miss Amador was never confronted about the t-shirts she frequently wore to school.

As a result of the school’s actions, the Thomas More Law Center, a national public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit in December 2008, alleging that the sixth grader’s constitutional rights had been violated. The Law Center was assisted by Los Angeles attorney William J. Becker, Jr., of the Becker Law Firm.

Robert Muise, Senior Trial Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, commented, “It is unfortunate that school officials across this country continue to ignore settled law. Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the school house gate. The U.S. Supreme Court made this clear decades ago. So long as school officials seem bent on silencing student speech that they dislike, they will face legal challenge.”

Attorneys Bill Becker and Robert Muise of the Law Center are currently litigating a similar case in Morgan Hill, California, involving students who were ordered to remove American flag t-shirts they wore to school on Cinco De Mayo.

Victory for California Middle School Student; Pro-Life T-Shirt is Protected Free Speech

August 17, 2010 by

Amador v. McSwain Union Elementary School District

August 12, 2010 by

VIDEO: Symbolizing Victory, Islamic Conquerors Erect Mosques Over Sacred Religious Sites

August 11, 2010 by

Throughout history, Muslim conquerors have demonstrated their hatred and disdain for all other religions by purposefully erecting mosques over some of the most sacred and hallowed places of Judaic and Christian worship.

The al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is built on top of one of the holiest sites in Judaism, the Temple Mount. The Hagia Sofia, once the world’s largest cathedral and orthodox patriarchal basilica until its capture in 1453, was the principal mosque of Istanbul for over 450 years. During the Muslim conquest of medieval Spain, the Christian church in Cordoba was captured and converted into the central mosque of the Umayyad Caliphate. Muslims have engaged in this practice for centuries, symbolizing their victories over the infidels.

Today, in New York City, Muslim leaders are plotting to build a mega-mosque near the site of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, where over three thousand Americans were callously murdered by Islamic jihadists. The site of the Twin Towers has become the most hallowed ground in United States history since Pearl Harbor.

The Center for Security Policy has released a video with a chilling reminder that history repeats itself. Click HERE to see video.

Ground Zero Mosque Becomes Free Speech Controversy—Federal Lawsuit Filed

August 9, 2010 by

August 9, 2010

ANN ARBOR, MI – Although there have been 15,000 Muslim terrorist attacks around the world since 9/11, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) had no problem displaying bus ads that promoted Muslims for peace. Yet that same governmental body refused to place an ad requested by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI) that dramatically showed the connection between the proposed Ground Zero Mosque and the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

The requested bus ad has on one side a picture of the Twin Towers aflame with a plane headed toward them, and on the opposite side, a tower with the crescent, moon, and star. [Click here to see the ad] After FDI fully paid for the ad, they were informed that the MTA refused to run the ad because the plane appeared to be flying into the Twin Towers. Several alterations to the ad were made as demanded by the representative of the MTA, which destroyed the dramatic impact of the ad! The altered ad has not yet been accepted by the Transportation Authority.

As a result, New York attorney David Yerushalmi and the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit last Friday against the MTA and its chief executive, Jay H. Walder. The lawsuit alleges violations of the constitutional right to Freedom of Speech and the Equal Protection Clause, on behalf of FDI and Pamela Geller, its Executive Director, and Robert Spencer the Associate Director. A motion for a Temporary Restraining Order will likely be filed sometime today. [Click here to read the lawsuit]

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, “Muslims placing a mosque within a few hundred feet of the Twin Towers attack is akin to the Marines planting the Stars and Stripes at Iwo Jima – each symbolizing victory over an enemy. The Muslim terrorists who destroyed the Twin Towers and killed 3,000 innocent people in the 9/11 attacks were following the dictates of the Koran and Sharia law. The site of this mosque was explicitly chosen for its proximity to Ground Zero as a symbol of ‘Islamic Triumphalism’. Clearly, the Ground Zero mosque will become the icon throughout the Muslim world as a symbol of Islam’s defeat of America.”