Pro-Life wins in Michigan

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Rochester Area Right To Life

Court Orders Municipality To Pay Over $39,000 in Michigan Pro-Life Case

(ANN ARBOR, MI) – In a case that has drawn national attention, Detroit Federal District Judge Victoria A. Roberts has ordered that Plymouth Township, Michigan, pay monetary damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs totaling $39,545.15 and has permanently enjoined the Township from interfering with the rights of pro-life demonstrators to display signs of aborted babies.

The case began this past July in Plymouth Township when pro-life advocates began to demonstrate against Michigan Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate, Jennifer Granholm, and her "pro-choice" stance, on the public sidewalk in front of the church she attends. The demonstrators displayed various signs, including signs that depicted images of aborted babies. Plymouth Township Police Officers seized the aborted baby signs on the basis that they were tantamount to pornography.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, quickly filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of three of the pro-life advocates who were prohibited from displaying the aborted baby signs. The Law Center sought an emergency temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Plymouth Township officials.

Within 24 hours after the lawsuit was filed, Federal Judge Roberts held a hearing and granted the emergency temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in favor of the three pro-life advocates, permitting them to display their aborted baby signs in public. Judge Roberts also found that there was a strong likelihood that the Thomas More Law Center’s clients would prevail in showing that the police had violated their constitutional rights. Based on Judge Roberts’s order, the pro-life advocates resumed their peaceful protest without interference from the Plymouth Township police.

This past week, Judge Roberts signed a consent judgment ruling that the First Amendment protects the display of aborted baby signs and that the Plymouth Township Police Officers violated the United States Constitution when they prevented the pro-life advocates from displaying the aborted baby signs in public and when they confiscated the signs without consent, a warrant, or probable cause.

As a result of the lawsuit, the three pro-life advocates received a total of $23,000 in monetary damages.

Thomas More Law Center attorneys Edward L. White III and Robert J. Muise handled the case on behalf of the pro-life advocates.

Source: Thomas More Law Center, December 3, 2002
The Thomas More Law Center defends the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through litigation, education, and related activities. You may contact the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit its website at www.thomasmore.org.

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