Biographies
of the Speaker and Awardees
Keynote
Speaker
Professor
Hadley Arkes
Edward Ney Professor of American Institutions
at Amherst College Professor
Hadley Arkes earned a B.A. at the University of Illinois and Ph.D. at the University
of Chicago. He has taught at Amherst since 1966.
He was the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of
Jurisprudence, and was appointed, in 1987, as
the Edward Ney Professor of American Institutions.
He has written five books with Princeton
University Press: Bureaucracy, The Marshall Plan, and the National Interest (1972), The Philosopher in the City (1981), First Things (1986), Beyond the Constitution (1990), and The Return of George Sutherland (1994). His most recent book, Natural Rights and the Right to Choose, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2002. His articles
have appeared in professional journals, and he has also become known to a wider audience through his writings in The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Weekly Standard, and National Review.
Professor Arkes has also been a contributor to First Things, a journal that took its name from his book of that title. For eight years he wrote a column for Crisis magazine under the title of “Lifewatch,” and he resumes that column occasionally with pieces for National Review Online. Professor Arkes was the main advocate, and architect, of the bill that became known as the Born-Alive Infants' Protection Act. The account of his experience in moving the bill through Congress is contained as an epilogue to his book, Natural Rights & the Right to Choose. Professor Arkes first prepared his proposal as part of the debating kit assembled for the George H.W. Bush in 1988. The purpose of that proposal was to offer the “most modest first step” of all in legislating on abortion and to open a conversation even with people who called themselves “pro-choice.” Professor Arkes proposed to begin simply by preserving the life of a child who survived an abortion—contrary to the holding of one federal judge that such a child was not protected by the law. Professor Arkes led the testimony on the bill before the Judiciary Committee of
the U.S. House of Representatives
in 2000 and 2001. In
2002, the House and Senate
passed the bill unanimously
and, with Professor Arkes
in attendance, President
Bush signed the bill
into law.
Professor Arkes has
been the founder, at
Amherst, of the Committee
for the American Founding,
a group of alumni and
students seeking to preserve
the doctrines of “natural
rights” taught by the
American Founders and
Abraham Lincoln. With
the same mission, he
has recently served as
Visiting Professor of
Public and International
Affairs in the Woodrow
Wilson School, and Vaughan
Fellow in the Madison
Program at Princeton
University. He is also
a Senior Fellow of the
Ethics and Public Policy
Center, a leading expert
on American political
philosophy, public policy
and Constitutional Law.
Return to top
2007 Thomas More Society
Awards
Honorable Henry
J. Hyde, “Man for All
Seasons Award”
Henry John Hyde, a man
who hardly needs introduction
to the pro-life community,
received his B.S. from
Georgetown University,
and law degree from Loyola
University Law School,
Chicago. He holds eight
honorary degrees. His
service in the Navy from
1944–1946
took him to Lingayen
Gulf, an extension of
the South China Sea.
From 1967 through 1974,
he was a member of the
Illinois house of representatives
and thereafter elected
as a Republican to Congress
for 16 successive terms
(January 3, 1975–January
3, 2007). He was one
of the managers appointed
by the House of Representatives
in 1986 to conduct the
impeachment proceedings
against Harry E. Claiborne,
judge of the United States
District Court for Nevada,
and he was one of the
managers appointed by
the House of Representatives
in 1998 to conduct the
impeachment proceedings
against President William
Clinton. He chaired the
Committee on the Judiciary
(One Hundred Fourth through
One Hundred Sixth Congresses)
and the Committee on
International Relations
(One Hundred Seventh
and One Hundred Ninth
Congresses). He did not
stand for reelection.
During the Clinton impeachment
trial, Mr. Hyde memorably
quoted the words of Thomas
More as rendered by Robert
Bolt in his play, A
Man for All Seasons—words
that bear repeating in
all seasons: “What is
an oath then, but words
we say to God …. When
a man takes an oath,
he's holding his own
self in his own hands,
like water. And if he
opens his fingers then,
he needn't hope to find
himself again.” Mr. Hyde's
service on the Committee
did not endear him to
the sycophants of political
correctness in these
dark days for America,
but this did not stop
him from fairly administering
the oath of his office
and conducting this impeachment
hearing with fairness,
courtesy, tenacity, wisdom
and discretion.
As the chairman of several
major committees at the
center of repeated national
controversies, Henry
Hyde was regarded on “both
sides of the aisle” as “a
paragon of dignity, civility
and commitment to principle,
and … a lion of the right
to life.” (Comments of
Rep. Mark Pence, R. Ind.
at a 2005 dedication
ceremony of a room in
the U.S. Capitol in the
name of Henry Hyde).
Perhaps the words of
Erasmus, penned in 1519
describing his friend,
Sir Thomas More, are
apt here:
In society he is so
polite, so sweet-mannered,
that no one is of
so melancholy a disposition
as not to be cheered
by him, and there
is no misfortune that
he does not alleviate ….
If he converses with
the learned and judicious,
he delights in their
talent; if with the ignorant
and foolish, he enjoys
their stupidity. He is
not even offended by
professional jesters.
With a wonderful dexterity
he accommodates himself
to every disposition ….
No one is less led
by the opinions of
the crowd, yet no
one departs less
from common sense.
Yet, like Sir, later
Saint, Thomas More, Hyde's
commitment to principle
was unshakable. Upon
his election to the United
States Congress, Mr.
Hyde quickly became a
leading pro-life voice.
It was the Hyde Amendment
for which the gentleman
from Illinois first made
his name in Congress.
In 1976, he won enactment
of legislation barring
the use of federal funds
to pay for abortions.
Thirty years later, the
Hyde Amendment is still
the law of the land.
Thus it came as no surprise
that he responded quickly
and bravely to the request
of his long-time friend,
Joe Scheidler, to attend
the federal RICO trial,
N.O.W.
v. Scheidler,
and testify on behalf
of Joe and the other
pro-life defendants.
His eloquence on behalf
of these defendants frustrated
the plaintiff's lawyer
and the judge, both of
whom repulsed Mr. Hyde's
attempt to liken abortion
to the Nazi Holocaust
yet under a tenacious
redirect, Mr. Hyde eloquently
made this comparison,
and when he left the
stand, the courtroom
erupted in cheering.
“He [Hyde] once eloquently
remarked, ‘I look for
the common thread in
slavery, the Holocaust
and abortion. To me,
the common thread is
dehumanizing people.'
(Rep. Pence, supra )."
Indeed, NARAL “awarded” him
a “0%” voting record
on abortion “rights” in
2003. If one can be said
to be defined by his
opposition, then Henry
Hyde is 100% pro-life!
He has stood for life
both “in” and “out” of
season, conducting himself
with unflappable fairness,
equanimity, civility
and good cheer—but also
with unwavering dedication.
Return to top Joseph
M. Scheidler, “William
Lloyd Garrison Award”
William Lloyd Garrison,
co-founder of the American
Anti-Slavery Society
and best known as the
editor of the radical
abolitionist newspaper, “The
Liberator,” made a name
for himself as one of
the most articulate,
as well as most radical,
opponents of slavery.
His approach to emancipation
stressed nonviolence
and passive resistance,
and he attracted a vocal
following. While some
other abolitionists of
the time favored gradual
emancipation, Garrison
argued for “immediate
and complete emancipation
of all slaves.” His outspoken
anti-slavery views repeatedly
put him in danger—he
was imprisoned, fined
and received numerous
and frequent death threats.
After the Emancipation
Proclamation was declared,
Garrison continued to
participate in public
debate and to support
reform causes, devoting
special attention to
the causes of feminism
and of civil rights for
blacks.
Tonight's Award is aptly
bestowed on Joseph M.
Scheidler, the Founder
and National Director
of the Pro-Life Action
League, a national pro-life
activist and educational
organization headquartered
in Chicago. Joe is an
alumnus of the University
of Notre Dame and received
his Master's Degree from
Marquette University.
He studied for the priesthood
at St. Meinrad
Abbey in southern Indiana,
and taught at Notre Dame
and at Mundelein College,
before turning to public
relations for the City
of Chicago and then a
private P.R. firm.
Prior to his involvement
with the League, Joe
joined Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. in the Selma
to Montgomery March in
1965. Joe has been personally
and professionally dedicated
to the abolition of abortion
for over thirty years.
He has inspired generations
of activists both here
and abroad with his dedicated
and uncompromising commitment
to protecting the most
vulnerable of human life—the
unborn. His PLAL is dedicated
to saving lives through
activism and to bringing
the abortion issue to
the public via the media.
Simply put, he has defined
pro-life direct action.
He has been such an outspoken
and successful pro-life
warrior that early in
his career, syndicated
columnist Patrick Buchanan
named him the “Green
Beret” of the pro-life
movement. His book on
his methods of fighting
abortion, CLOSED:
99 Ways to Stop Abortion,
updated in 1993 is based
on decades of baby-saving
activism and is the essential
activist's guide to hands-on
protest, political and
public relations and
heart-changing action.
Together with his wife
Ann, executive director
of the League, he has
produced the videos Meet
the Abortion Providers and Abortion:
The Inside Story,
featuring former abortionists
who are now telling the
truth about what goes
on in the abortion clinics—that
abortion is not about “caring
for women” or “choice” but
rather cold, hard cash
for the abortion profiteers.
Joe also produced the
definitive video on sidewalk
counseling, No
Greater Joy, and Face
the Truth,
an 11-minute video on
a unique, highly visible
pro-life demonstration
using large graphic abortion
posters to bring the
truth about abortion
to the American public.
Joe pioneered the use
of these graphic pictures
as they speak louder
than words about the
truth of abortion and
the moral imperative
to abolish it. Joe Scheidler
has been featured in
the national media as
the chief defendant in
a RICO lawsuit brought
against him, the League
and other pro-life activists
by the National Organization
for Women and several
abortion clinics whose
owner was furious at
his outspoken activism.
Indeed, when N.O.W. and
these clinics, on several
occasions, offered to
settle the case for nothing
if Joe would simply agree
to cease his pro-life
activities, Joe refused,
risking financial and
personal ruin. Providentially,
he eventually won the
lawsuit after three trips
to the United States
Supreme Court.
He continues to be a
stimulating and controversial
guest on radio and TV
interviews and talk shows
and has appeared on more
than a thousand programs
including: ABC
News Nightline, Donahue,
Crossfire, Face the Nation,
Good Morning America,
MacNeil/Lehrer Report,
The O'Reilly Factor and others. He
has written many guest
columns for newspapers
such as USA
Today and
The
Wanderer and has
published articles in
several national publications.
Nationwide, he has spoken
in more than 1000 towns
and cities since 1980
and has conducted on-site
workshops and lectures
in Australia, New Zealand,
Ireland, Canada, and
Italy. Joe lives in
Chicago with his wife,
Ann, the Executive Director
of the Pro-Life Action
League and a founding
Director of the Thomas
More Society in Chicago. Return to top
Paul
Benjamin Linton, Esq., “Chancellor's
Award”
Paul Benjamin Linton
is Special Counsel for
the Thomas More Society
and integral to our early
success due to his exceptional
abilities, tenacity,
integrity and dedication
to the truth and the
law. He has been professionally
engaged in the pro-life
movement for almost twenty
years, first at Americans
United for Life, where
he was General Counsel,
then in his own practice,
and presently as Special
Counsel for the Thomas
More Society. Prior to
working for AUL, Mr. Linton
served as a law clerk
and staff attorney for
the Illinois Appellate
Court and as an Assistant
State 's Attorney for
the Cook County State's
Attorney's Office in
Chicago.
Mr. Linton has represented
friends-of-the-court
in landmark beginning-of-life
and end-of-life cases
in the United States
Supreme Court, including
Webster
v. Reproductive Health
Services (1989),
Cruzan
v. Director of the Missouri
Department of Health (1990), Planned
Parenthood v. Casey (1992),
Washington
v. Glucksberg (1997), Vacco
v. Quill (1997), Stenberg
v. Carhart (2000), Ayotte
v. Planned Parenthood of
Northern New England
(2006), Gonzales
v. Oregon (2006), Gonzales
v. Carhart (2007)
and
Gonzales
v. Planned Parenthood
Federation of America (2007).
He was appointed as a
Special Assistant Attorney
General to represent
the Territory of Guam
in the defense of the
Guam abortion prohibition
(Guam
Society of Obstetricians & Gynecologists
v. Ada). In addition
to his Supreme Court
practice, Mr. Linton
has represented parties,
intervenors and friends-of-the-court
in most of the federal
circuit courts of appeals
and almost one-half of
all state reviewing courts.
He has worked closely
on pro-life litigation
with more than one-third
of all the state Attorneys
General in the United
States. He has drafted
or reviewed pro-life
legislation in dozens
of States and has testified
on pro-life bills before
legislative committees
in several States. He
has also drafted state
constitutional amendments.
In September 2006, acting
as Special Counsel for
the Thomas More Society,
Mr. Linton submitted
a petition to the Illinois
Supreme Court asking
the court to adopt the
rule necessary to implement
the 1995 Illinois Parental
Notice of Abortion Act.
The petition was filed
on behalf of the Catholic
Conference of Illinois,
Lutherans for Life, Orthodox
Christians for Life,
Concerned Christian Americans,
Illinois Citizens for
Life, Illinois Federation
for Right to Life, the
Illinois Family Institute,
the Illinois Right to
Life Committee, Concerned
Women for America and
Eagle Forum of Illinois.
Less than one week after
the petition was filed,
the Illinois Supreme
Court issued the requested
rule. Once the constitutionality
of the rule has been
determined, Illinois
will be able to enforce,
for the first time since
Roe
v. Wade was decided,
a law requiring parental
involvement in the decision
of a minor to obtain
an abortion.
In the last five years,
Mr. Linton has expanded
his practice to include
the same-sex “marriage” issue.
He has filed friend-of-the-court
briefs defending the
traditional understanding
of marriage as the union
of one man and one woman
in same-sex “marriage” cases
in California, Connecticut,
Indiana, Iowa (forthcoming),
Maryland, Massachusetts,
Nebraska, New Jersey,
New York, Oregon and
Washington, as well as
in a domestic partnership
case in Montana. In these
cases, he has represented
state legislators, law
professors, churches
and religious organizations,
public policy groups
and the Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Linton has published
a dozen law review articles
on a variety of topics,
including the history
of abortion regulation,
state and federal constitutional
law, criminal law, sex
discrimination and assisted
suicide. His most recent
article—on the status
of state prohibitions
of abortion once Roe
v. Wade is overruled—has
just been published in
Issues
in Law & Medicine.
An earlier article—Planned
Parenthood v. Casey:
The Flight from Reason
in the Supreme Court—is
the most detailed law
review critique of the
Supreme Court's decision
to reaffirm Roe
v. Wade that
has been published to
date. He has also written
a 150-page manual on
litigation abortion claims
under state constitutions.
Currently, among his
other projects, he is
researching and writing
a comprehensive analysis
of “abortion rights” claims
under state constitutions,
which he expects to be
published next summer.
He has been a guest lecturer
in the Program on Human
Rights & Medicine,
University of Minnesota.
Mr. Linton received his
undergraduate (B.A. Honors)
and law (J.D.) degrees
from Loyola University
of Chicago. Return to top
James
L. Fox, Esq., “God's
Good Servant Award
(posthumous)”
James L. (“Jim”) Fox
died a year and a half
ago, on April 14, 2006,
at age 85 after a lifetime
of great achievements.
He was a lawyer's lawyer,
senior partner in the
law firm that bore his
name, Abramson & Fox.
He was dean of the commodities
bar in a city renowned
for commodities trading.
He was a true professional
for whom the practice
of law was a higher calling.
Mr. Fox taught his
juniors to be businesslike,
to keep an eye fixed
on the bottom line and
to keep a tight lid on
overhead. Mr. Fox preached
that lawyers had to practice
law in a businesslike
manner, but law was not
a business for him. It
was a profession—not
just another way to make
a good living but a way
of doing good works.
Law meant far more to
Jim Fox than a mere command
of the sovereign. For
him, every law had a
moral content. And every
application of law had
a moral impact on people's
lives.
Tonight we happily bestow “God's
Good Servant Award” on
Jim Fox for one of his
many good works. We honor
him for an act of courage
and his steadfast, self-sacrificial
commitment to hang tough
over a decade's worth
of consequences that
nobody could have foreseen.
On August 1, 1987, a
new junior partner joined
Abramson & Fox named
Tom Brejcha. At age 43,
Mr. Brejcha brought
several new clients that
looked promising, in
terms of the economics
of law practice. Others
were less promising.
In the latter category
were Joseph Scheidler
and his Pro-Life Action
League, based in Chicago,
whom the National Organization
for Women, Inc. (N.O.W.)
and a pair of abortion
providers had sued in
Wilmington, Delaware,
back in June 1986. The
thrust of the suit was
that Scheidler and others
had conspired to violate
the federal antitrust
laws. He had written
a book, Closed:
99 Ways to Stop Abortion (1985).
Then he had formed a
national coalition of
activist groups to put
his “99 ways”—all
of which were peaceable
and non-violent—into
practice. The simplistic
logic of the lawsuit
was that abortion had
been upheld as legal.
Therefore, shutting it
down had to be an “unreasonable
restraint of trade.”
Until that August, Mr.
Brejcha had not been
on the firing line. He
was safely on the sidelines,
passing along sage advice
and helping to draft
a brief or two for younger
lawyers from another
non-profit pro-life law
firm, Americans United
for Life (AUL). In late
August 1987, after the
case had been transferred
to Chicago, AUL asked
Mr. Brejcha to take the
lead in the case. And
so there came a moment
of truth. The new junior
partner made an appointment
to see Mr. Fox and made
what, with twenty years
of hindsight, we can
only describe as a really
outrageous request. Would
Mr. Fox permit him to
take on this task, to
take the lead in this
nationwide conspiracy
case against deep-pocketed
adversaries, with little
if any economic return
and no end in sight?
The rest is history.
Jim Fox said “yes.” It
wasn't halting or hedged.
It was a resounding “yes,” and
its echoes still ring
out and reverberate two
decades later. Mr. Fox
even filed an appearance
in his own name and from
time to time would come
to court with Mr. Brejcha,
urgently whispering suggestions
for argument—a common
one being: “Just tell
[his Honor] they were
trying to save lives!”
The case was won outright
when that first federal
judge finally threw out
both plaintiffs' antitrust
claim and their newly
added racketeering (RICO)
claim in May, 1991. That
dismissal held up before
the Court of Appeals,
and not a single Judge
there dissented. The
Supreme Court denied
review of the antitrust
dismissal. But they reexamined
the RICO dismissal and
reversed it, 9–0, in
January 1994 on legal
grounds. The case went
back down to district
court and was transferred
to a new Clinton-appointed
district Judge who proved
inhospitable to pro-life
advocacy.
Dark days ensued. But
Jim Fox stood firm and
supported this costly
defense three more years
until he had to retire
from his firm's management.
Things weren't going
very well in N.O.W.
v. Scheidler. By 1996, every
ruling seemed to go against
the defendants. A long,
costly jury trial loomed
ahead, just over the
horizon, and the odds
were stacked in favor
of the other side.
In March 1997, Mr. Brejcha
resigned from the law
firm and opened the Pro-Life
Law Center, which soon
became known as the Thomas
More Society. Starting
out on a wing and a prayer
in donated quarters in
a derelict downtown office
building that was half-empty,
Thomas More Society survived
and took flight. Jim
Fox remained an ardent,
loyal supporter. When
the long jury trial began
in March 1998, he came
to court and even lavished
undue praise on his former
partner after delivery
of an opening statement
whose few memorable words
were that defendants
were only “trying to
save lives.”
Some would say that
Jim Fox's decision to
support the defense of
N.O.W.
v. Scheidler was
a fool's gambit. We deem
it an act of surpassing
faith and courage with
salutary repercussions
for the pro-life movement
no one could have dreamed
of when he said “yes” to
supporting this defense.
Regrettably, we can only
speak of him belatedly
and posthumously. Let
us use the same words
he wrote to his former
junior partner just a
few days after the Supreme
Court handed down its
third and final ruling
for the pro-life defendants
and a mere three days
before he died, “Dear
Jim, a job well done—God
bless you!” Return to top |
