From: “Liberty Counsel” <alert@libertyaction.org>
Date: April 9, 2010 1:50:14 PM EDT
Subject: ACLU caught red-handed in cover-up!
From the Desk of:
Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
Liberty Counsel’s team of attorneys has exposed the
ACLU’s illegal cover-up of critical information
as they tried to CRIMINALIZE prayer in the public
schools of Santa Rosa County, Florida. These
revelations will now have a huge impact on the
ACLU’s nationwide efforts to silence Christians
and ban public prayer. Please see my important
message below – Mat
~~~ This morning, I was on the Fox and Friends television show
to discuss the implications of our exposure of a startling
cover-up by the ACLU – and what that finding means in our
on-going efforts to confront and defeat that group’s
ultraliberal, anti-faith agenda.
Appearing with me was Chaz Riley, student body President
of Milton High School, who was censored from even saying
“God bless you” in an address! The ACLU’s chilling impact
in this school district has been so severe that Christian
teachers are literally forced to hide in closets if they
want to share a word of prayer or have a conversation with
religious content.
But, thank God, here is what we were able to bring to light
about the ACLU’s bullying…
The ACLU intentionally HID the fact that their anonymous
clients graduated from Santa Rosa School District less than
four weeks after their infamous “Consent Decree” was issued!
Further, their clients no longer had any interaction with
the school system after they graduated, so there were
literally NO PLAINTIFFS from that point forward – for
nearly a full year now!
Without clients that have a legal interest in the litigation,
the ACLU was barred from continuing to litigate against
the people of Santa Rosa County. The ACLU knew that.
Any first year law student would know that!
Yet, the ACLU CONTINUED to torment well-respected,
upstanding educators and administrators, charging three
of them with CRIMINAL CONTEMPT that could have led to
prison time, huge fines, and loss of their state
retirement benefits – all the while stonewalling the
fact that that their plaintiffs were long gone.
Three highly-principled public servants went through a
hellish torment while the ACLU knowingly broke they law
by failing to disclose they had no further case.
This is a truly egregious offense! The
cover-up was exposed while my team performed detailed
exploratory work in our efforts to get the ACLU’s
unconstitutional Consent Decree thrown out of federal
court.
It appears that we will soon be able to deal
the ACLU a SEVERE BLOW in this case. In fact,
we intend to so thoroughly expose their blatant
disregard of the law that they will be sent
packing – beaten and humiliated!
Then, we intend to petition the court to SEVERELY
SANCTION the ACLU for their shameful deception.
We expect that will put an end to the deceit
employed by the ACLU in Santa Rosa County. But
our nationwide fight against this well-funded,
anti-faith organization of legal bullies will
continue until they stop their outrageous,
agenda-driven attacks on our religious liberties!
To help us conclusively end the ACLU’s abuse in Santa Rosa County,
Florida, and derail their next attempted shake-down of a small
public administration or school system, please go here:
http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp
++How it all started in Northwest Florida.
Please allow me to give you a quick refresher on what has
become a highly significant battle for religious freedom.
We have been deeply involved in defending teachers,
administrators and students in Santa Rosa County, Florida,
for many months now.
First, the ACLU dispatched a small army of attorneys in a
highly orchestrated attempt to CRIMINALIZE virtually any
expression of Christianity – even praying before a meal.
In truth, this was a test of a new strategy hatched in some
agenda-driven meeting of the ACLU’s national leadership.
The hapless school system in Santa Rosa County was chosen
for a “test drive” of their latest plot – a strategy that
was intended to lead to a nationwide reign of oppression.
In August and September of 2009, we beat back the ACLU’s
legal attack against three Santa Rosa County school employees
over alleged violations of the Consent Order involving
simple mealtime prayers.
With a lot of prayer support and intense legal work, we got
all charges against our clients dropped! After this
humiliating defeat, the ACLU tried to save face by
increasing the pressure on the school district and
encouraging more “informants” to play ball.
Since our most recent courtroom victory in December 2009
until their cover-up began to unravel, the ACLU has been
able to continue terrorizing godly men and women in Santa
Rosa County because of the outrageous, anti-Christian
Consent Order they wrote (and a federal judge signed),
which is still hanging over the school system and its
employees.
The ACLU has filed a similar case in a Tennessee school district,
in which the public officials have chosen to submit to ACLU
demands rather than fight back. That was the original fact
pattern in Santa Rosa County, as well, before our three
courageous clients asked for Liberty Counsel’s help.
++We now have a stellar opportunity to teach the ACLU
bullies a painful lesson.
We’ve been fighting the ACLU’s Consent Order so that school
officials in Santa Rosa County and school districts across
the country won’t have the ACLU’s threat of CRIMINAL
charges hanging over them for such common expressions
of Christianity as praying over a meal or saying
“God bless you”!
Liberty Counsel has asked the Federal District Court to
vacate the Consent Order and every other decision it has
rendered since the graduation of the original two
plaintiffs. In addition to asking that the court severely
sanction the ACLU for its deception, we will bring
attention to the School District’s misguided decision
to cave in and pay the ACLU $200,000 in attorney’s fees.
++We’ve likely won this battle, but the war continues.
This is a long-term war we refuse to lose. But as you know,
the ACLU has virtually unlimited resources and a “war chest”
of hundreds of millions of dollars. That is how they were
able to assign 6 (six!) of their senior attorneys to
bludgeon one small school district in Florida’s panhandle region.
The fact is, we need your financial help to continue our
nationwide fight against the ACLU’s band of bullies.
(…)
+ + Liberty Counsel needs your prayers as never before.
Just as importantly, please be in prayer for our litigation
team. Prayer is a vital component of everything we do at
Liberty Counsel, especially when we are battling a twisted
adversary in a case as pivotal as this one has become.
Of course, I also pray you will consider investing in our
efforts to rip the hideous “bully club” out of the ACLU’s
hands once and for all. Please go here:
http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp
With the help of thousands of friends like you, we can
derail the ACLU’s manipulation of our judicial system and
prevent them from bringing CRIMINAL CHARGES against
public school employees for demonstrating the simplest
expressions of their Christian faith.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
P.S. Our case in Santa Rosa County has significant implications
for every community in America. The ACLU’s aim is to repeat
this strategy throughout the nation – even in communities
like yours. This time, in Santa Rosa County, we were able
to catch them blatantly cheating to get their desired end.
But they recently began this process in a small Tennessee
school system and we expect it to erupt in more cities
and towns, especially if they gain momentum in their early
targeted locations.
Please don’t let the ACLU succeed in turning our public
institutions into prayerless wastelands! We’ve proven that
with the help of friends like you we can stop them, as we
have in Northwest Florida. Please go here to help right now:
http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp
+ + + + + + + + + + +
Comments? Questions?
http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp
Liberty Counsel, with offices in Florida, Virginia and
Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit litigation, education and
policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom,
the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.
Liberty Counsel . PO Box 540774 . Orlando, FL 32854 .800-671-1776
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