Month in Review: March 2014

March 2014 was another busy month for the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC), all of which was made possible by your generous support. Here are the highlights:

  • On March 3, AFLC served objections to several subpoenas issued by CAIR on third parties in a lawsuit CAIR filed against Pittsfield Township, Michigan when its zoning board rejected plans to build an Islamic center in the township on neutral grounds.  AFLC is representing seven private citizens who were served with harassing subpoenas by CAIR because these citizens dared to speak out publicly against CAIR’s plans to build the center.
  • On March 4, Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi presented oral argument in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, arguing that the court should overturn the denial of the trademark application for “Stop the Islamization of America.” In a belligerent disregard for the indisputable meaning of the term Islamization, the USPTO denied the application, claiming that the trademarks disparaged Muslims and linked them to terrorism. You can listen to Yerushalmi’s argumen there.
  • On March 7, AFLC filed its opening brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, appealing a lower federal court ruling that denied our motion for a preliminary injunction in our case challenging the decision by the area transit authority in Seattle, Washington, to censor our clients’ pro-Israel / anti-violent jihad bus advertisement.
  • On March 12, AFLC filed with the Ninth Circuit a petition for en banc(or full court) review of a three-judge panel’s ruling that upheld the ban of American flag shirts on a California high school campus during “Cinco de Mayo.”
  • On March 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal District of Columbia announced that it has scheduled oral argument in AFLC’s HHS contraception mandate challenge on behalf of Priests for Life for Thursday, May 8, 2014.  (Note: this will be the first oral argument on the merits in a federal appellate court in a case challenging the mandate on behalf of a nonprofit religious organization.)
  • Throughout March, AFLC provided legal services to the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), a national pro-life group, helping it to establish upcoming pro-life displays at Michigan State University; Oakland University, Michigan; University of Arizona; and University of California, Long Beach.
  • On March 25, AFLC Co-Founders and Senior Counsel Robert Muise and David Yerushalmi were featured speakers at a conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, in which they discussed the threat of civilizational jihad in the U.S.  It was standing room only with over 350 attendees.  Watch the video of their presentations here.

Thank you for all of your support, past and present. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America!