Posts Tagged ‘ND 88’
Posted by Thomas More Society (March 3, 2010 at 11:28 pm)
TMS renews call for Notre Dame President Fr. Jenkins to prefer human rights to property rights and ask the prosecutor to drop all charges against the ND 88
Chicago, Ill.—Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of Chicago’s Thomas More Society—the national public interest law firm whose legal team is defending the Notre Dame 88—is sad to report the death of ND88 client Linda Schmidt who died after a courageous battle with terminal cancer.
“It is with a heavy heart that we report that Linda Schmidt died early last night. While she will be missed by her family and loved ones, as a woman of tremendous faith she will no doubt spend eternity with our Lord,” stated Brejcha. “But our grief at losing this dedicated pro-life heroine is greater given the grim truth that she lived her final days under this cloud of criminal charges instigated by Notre Dame, which remained pending even as she departed this life.”
[Continue reading ...]
Posted by Thomas More Society (February 5, 2010 at 10:09 am)
Don’t miss this commentary by Brian Simboli, Ph.D. on the Notre Dame 88 situation.
Brian, who got his Ph.D. at Notre Dame, provides some stirring thought on why the ND 88 need continued support from pro-life advocates.
Posted by Thomas More Society (January 26, 2010 at 11:25 am)
Indiana attorney Tom Dixon, who represents the “Notre Dame 88,” just learned that Judge Jenny Pitts Manier has formally accused him of violations of Indiana lawyer disciplinary rules, because he argued that she should “recuse” or remove herself from the cases. Dixon argued that a reasonable person may view the judge as biased against the “ND 88,” due to the judge’s husband having financial ties to Notre Dame, where he is a noted emeritus professor and outspoken opponent of Catholic teaching on human sexuality.
After briefing and argument in the Trial Court, Judge Manier denied the initial request for recusal, but agreed with the ND 88 attorneys that the issue should be certified for immediate consideration by the Indiana Court of Appeals. After the appeal was underway but before it was decided, Manier reversed her earlier decision and recused herself.
Details to follow as we learn more…
Posted by Thomas More Society (January 26, 2010 at 10:03 am)
Fr. Jenkins, president of Notre Dame who joined the Notre Dame delegation to the March for Life, held last Friday in Washington, D.C., came face to face with large banners urging him to “Free the ND88″ and many thousands of leaflets also calling out for his taking steps to end criminal prosecutions of the “ND88.”
Pro-Choice President at a Catholic University
These are 88 pro-lifers who peaceably bore witness to the sanctity of life last May, 2009, by entering upon Notre Dame’s famous campus just outside South Bend, Indiana, in a solemn, prayerful procession intended to counterbalance the anti-life message bound up with this Catholic university’s decision to invite pro-abortion president Obama to give the Commencement address to graduating students last May.
Notre Dame also saw fit to bestow an honorary doctor of laws degree on the president, whose Administration already had marked him as the most pro-abortion leader in our nation’s history. Indeed, the actual Commencement ceremony was utterly adulatory toward the president, without a word of dissent or opposition to his pro-abortion record, let alone to his pro-abortion agenda — an agenda that now includes a health care proposal that would negate the Hyde Amendment and usher in an era of tax-supported abortions, thereby assuring a vast expansion of abortion in the U.S., far from the touted net reduction in abortions that Mr. Obama had promised to work for as president during his run for office.
The statue of Our Lady, “Notre Dame,” who stands atop of the university’s famous Golden Dome and crowns its Main Building, might have wept real tears when the president was greeted with rousing applause during his nationally televised graduation speech when he advocated “stem cell research,” without distinguishing between embryonic stem cell research, which destroys innocent human lives but which his Administration now promotes, on one hand, and adult stem cell research, which pro-lifers support, which has proven to yield tangible medically successful results, and which does not harm or destroy any human lives.
Pro-Lifers Arrested for Peaceful, Prayerful Witness
It was mainly during the days leading up to the Commencement when those 88 pro-lifers, who were bearing a cross and/or praying the rosary and not causing any disturbance whatsoever, suddenly found themselves halted by campus security police and were then arrested and hauled off to jail in handcuffs.
[Continue reading ...]
Posted by Thomas More Society (January 18, 2010 at 1:16 pm)
LifeSiteNews.com is spearheading a new petition calling on University of Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins to drop the charges against the ND 88.
The ND 88 are pro-life people who walked on Notre Dame’s campus in protest of President Obama’s scandalous commencement speech there in May of 2009. Find out more about the ND 88 and get all the latest news on the case here.
As of this writing, over 4,000 people have signed the which has recently gained Human Life International as a con-sponsor. The Thomas More Society certainly hopes Fr. Jenkins will hear the outcry of all these faithful pro-life people. Join your voice to theirs by signing the petition today.
Posted by Thomas More Society (January 12, 2010 at 11:49 am)
Judge Jenny Pitts Manier, the judge who was hearing the case against the “ND 88,” the 88 pro-lifers who were arrested while protesting President Obama’s scandalous appearance at the University of Notre Dame in May, 2009, recused herself and removed herself from the case due to a conflict of interest. You can read the whole story in the TMS press release on the story. Below you’ll find a list of media coverage of this breaking story. This post will be updated as more stories become available.
ND 88 Judge Recusal in the News
Posted by Thomas More Society (January 11, 2010 at 10:47 pm)
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net
Pro-Life Defendants Had Argued That Judge ‘Reasonably’ Appeared To Be Biased
January 11, 2010 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—In the ongoing case involving 88 pro-life demonstrators arrested at the University of Notre Dame in the days leading up to (and in some cases during) President Barack Obama’s commencement speech and receipt of an honorary degree, the assigned trial judge has recused herself just days after defense attorneys filed an appeal from her earlier ruling, denying recusal.
[Continue reading ...]
Posted by Thomas More Society (December 3, 2009 at 9:18 pm)
Pro-Life Defendants’ Argue that Free Speech Rights Violated as Obama Supporters were Given Special Treatment by Campus Police
December 3, 2009 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—Chicago-based Thomas More Society attorneys appeared in St. Joseph County Criminal Court today to argue for dismissal of trespass charges against pro-life advocates because campus police acted improperly. The charges were brought by local prosecutors based on complaints by University of Notre Dame security police during Obama protests last May at the University. In addition to the motion to dismiss, Thomas More Society attorney Tom Dixon argued that Judge Jenny Pitts Manier had an actual or perceived bias based on her prior rulings, her husband’s outspoken criticism of Catholic pro-life teachings as a philosophy professor at Notre Dame and other factors. Judge Manier, while denying the bias charges, ruled nonetheless that the prosecution should be halted to allow for an immediate appeal as to whether she should be disqualified from ruling on the merits of the 88 cases.
“We’re very pleased that Judge Manier has allowed this immediate appeal as it is critical that these vital issues be heard before a fair and impartial tribunal,” said Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society. [Continue reading ...]
Posted by Thomas More Society (December 3, 2009 at 10:46 am)
Thomas More Society President and Chief Counsel Thomas Brejcha will be in court on Thursday, December 3, to argue in favor of a motion to dismiss the charges against the ND 88.
These 88 protesters were arrested for trespassing on the campus of the University of Notre Dame during protests of President Obama’s scandalous commencement speech there last May. If convicted of these charges, the 88 could face up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
TMS has repeatedly petitioned the University to drop the charges, respecting the protesters’ right to free speech and the school’s Catholic character, even drafting an open letter to University president Fr. John Jenkins. Fr. Jenkins has repeatedly insisted that it is not within his power to drop the charges. [Continue reading ...]
Posted by matt (October 21, 2009 at 5:19 pm)
Arguing that the constitutionally protected rights of freedom of speech and equal protection under the law were violated by the arrests and criminal charges, attorney Tom Dixon filed a motion to dismiss all charges against the individuals arrested when President Obama came to Notre Dame last May
Read the entire motion here (11 MB pdf file).
