Update on the Pharmacist Case and the Supreme Court
Last night I was on the telephone with Frank Manion, Senior Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice in charge of all of our Conscience Clause cases throughout the United States. Major news was made this week with the announcement by a major pharmacy that they had fired four pharmacists for refusing to dispense a prescription that induced abortions. Illinois has a Conscience Clause that allows pharmacists to exempt themselves from filling prescriptions that would be involved in the abortion process. There were other pharmacists on call who could have filled the prescription. Illinois has been particularly tough on pharmacists because the Governor has issued a memorandum which, in a very real way, attempts to override the State Legislature. Frank will meet with our client today in St. Louis in order to prepare filings with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and we are also redrafting lawsuits to be filed in court on behalf of these pharmacists. Frank will be appearing on Anderson Cooper on CNN, and tomorrow morning I will appear on Good Morning America to discuss this issue.
On the Supreme Court front, the oral arguments in the case involving military recruiters in the law schools went very well for our side. At issue is a law by the federal government stating that if a university takes federal funds, they must allow equal access to military recruiters on the same basis as they would allow access to other employers. A group of law professors and law students who were opposed to the militarys policy on sexual orientation filed suit challenging the statute. They argued that allowing the law schools to deny military access was appropriate as a matter of free speech. The United States, in our view, correctly disagreed with this position. The Solicitor General of the United States, relying in part on our case in Mergens, noted that a requirement of equal access is certainly constitutional. The Court seemed to agree with the position advocated by Solicitor General Paul Clement. This is an important case, and we will keep you posted as it continues to progress.
Word is now that we are going to find out as early as January 6th whether the Supreme Court is going to hear the challenge to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. We filed a brief in support of the United States urging the Court to hear the case. We represent seventy members of the House and Senate in this litigation, including sponsors for the legislation. For frequent updates, please go to www.aclj.org.