Alito Update & College Campus Victory

I have just left the beginning of the second-day hearings for Judge Alito here in Washington, DC.  So far, it is fair to say that Judge Alito has done an outstanding job in presenting himself as a conservative judge who understands that his role is not to legislate from the bench.  Even with intense questioning today, Judge Alito has maintained the kind of composure and shown the type of judicial temperament that will make him an excellent Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.  We will be giving frequent updates on our websites In the News section concerning the nomination process.  Also, our radio broadcast this week is coming live from Washington, DC, during the Alito hearings, with coverage of the actual hearings themselves as well as our comments and your questions.  Click here to listen to the broadcast. 

We recently had a victory in a case involving a college student at Montgomery County Community College.  Josh Fogarty, from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is a college student and one of the officers in a Christian Club on the College campus.  The club holds weekly meetings, and last November, they intended to hold a meeting on "A Biblical Look at Abortion" with a local pastor as guest speaker.  To advertise for the meeting, they used a picture of an inter-uterine surgery, showing the baby's hand grasping the surgeon's finger.  After the College President received complaints about the picture, all the fliers were thrown away. 

Initially, because of that incident, the College ordered that the Christian Club could not "preach" at the "Biblical Look at Abortion" meeting or any future meeting.  As a result, the Christian Club's president canceled the Club's intended meeting without consulting other officers, such as Josh Fogarty.  However, since that incident, the "preaching" restriction was lifted, as College officials realized they were wrong.  The College President's office ensured the Club that they could reschedule their "Biblical Look at Abortion" meeting, and even looked forward to the event.  Despite the College's change of position on "preaching" at the Club's meetings, the College President refused to allow any future use of the picture, stating that it could not be used because it was "lewd and offensive."

We reviewed the picture used on the flier, and determined that the picture was no more graphic than an average Biology book or an average episode of E.R. on prime-time television.  The decision to remove it was plainly viewpoint-discriminatory.  As such, we issued a demand letter on Dec. 21, 2005, asking for a response by Jan. 5, 2006.  We received a responsive letter from the College's legal counsel on Jan. 5, 2006, stating that his client was "agreeable to allowing Mr. Fogarty to display his materials regarding the postponed biblical look at abortion' with the photos attached."  And further, that "[t]he College wants to make it clear that it does not engage in censorship nor does it take a political view on whatever the student organizations may do."  This is a complete turn-around from the College President's previous position!