Supreme Court and RICO
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of the United States will be in conference on our case involving the application of RICO. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has left an injunction in place on pro-life protestors because of the RICO case, in spite of the fact that we won a complete reversal and victory at the Supreme Court two years ago in an 8-1 decision, which included a tremendous concurrence from Justice Ginsburg. If the Supreme Court grants review, it will be the third time they have tackled this case. Weve specifically asked that the Court remove, once and for all, this injunction that continues to hang over the heads of pro-life protestors and demonstrators.
Heres a synopsis of events: In our Petition for Certiorari and a Reply Brief, we pointed out that the lower courts are clearly in conflict on this issue and asked the Supreme Court of the United States to grant review. On the other side of the case, the National Organization for Women is aggressively trying to keep this injunction in place. This case will be discussed by the Supreme Court in conference on Thursday, and we could get a decision as to whether or not they are going to hear the case as early as Friday.
We have asked the Court for a summary reversal, meaning that without any additional briefing or oral argument, we think the Court should reverse the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. That is always a difficult process, but we are committed to this uphill battle. Our ACLJ senior research team has put forward a very compelling brief, as have the lawyers representing Joe Scheidler, the National Director of the Pro-Life Action League. We have invested a tremendous amount of resources litigating this case for almost 20 years!
If the Court denies review, the case will go back down to the district court and we will start this process all over again. So in the next couple of months, we will either be at the Supreme Court of the United States fighting this one out, or well be back in district court arguing about this issue that continues to create a cloud over pro-life demonstrators. We want that cloud removed! We thought it was gone when we won at the Supreme Court two years ago; however, even though the Supreme Court made its position very clear, the circuit court decided to keep the injunction in place.
I want to encourage you to be in prayer as this case goes before the Supreme Court of the United States on Thursday. For updates on Friday, listen to our radio broadcast Jay Sekulow Live! and check out our website at www.aclj.org.