The Thomas More Law Center is a Christian, conservative, nonprofit, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and active throughout the United States. According to the Thomas More Law Center website, its goals are to "preserve America's Judeo-Christian heritage, defend the religious freedom of Christians, restore time-honored moral and family values, protect the sanctity of human life, and promote a strong national defense and a free and sovereign United States of America."
The Thomas More Law Center is active in social issues such as opposing same-sex marriage, abortion, provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the HHS Mandate. The Law Center has been involved, often unsuccessfully, in high-profile cases including the litigation of the Dover, Pennsylvania intelligent design case, the defense of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani against misconduct allegations stemming from the November 2005 Haditha incident; The Law Center's federal lawsuit against the US Government regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Individual Mandate. The Law Center also litigates cases related to the defense of Christians and anti-abortion activists, and has successfully defended the use of dark money in American elections.
Founding and history
The center was founded in 1999 by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan and the center's current President and Chief Counsel Richard Thompson, a former Oakland County, Michigan prosecutor known for his role in the prosecution of Jack Kevorkian. Among those who have sat on the center's advisory board are former Senators Rick Santorum and retired Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton, former Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Catholic academic Charles Rice, Mary Cunningham Agee, and Ambassador Alan Keyes. The center's Citizens' Advisory Board also includes Representative Michele Bachmann and Lieutenant Colonel Allen West. The center is primarily financed by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations and is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization.
Name
The center is named after Thomas More, an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and Renaissance humanist. He was an important councilor to Henry VIII and was Lord Chancellor. More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular, the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale, whose books he burned. More later opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England because it disparaged papal authority. He was tried for treason, convicted, and beheaded. Thomas More is the patron saint of lawyers in the Catholic Church.
Notable cases
Intelligent design
In 2005 The Thomas More Law Center represented the defendants in one of the country's first intelligent design cases, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
Prior to taking on this particular case, the lawyers of the Thomas More Law Center traveled the country seeking a school board willing to withstand a lawsuit as a test case for the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, forcing the first test case for intelligent design in the courts.
In the summer of 2004, the Dover, Pennsylvania, school board, after receiving legal advice from the Discovery Institute, accepted the center's offer of advice and possible representation, as they worked to change their science curriculum. On November 19, 2004, the Defendant Dover Area School District announced that, commencing in January 2005, teachers would be required to read a statement to students in the ninth grade biology class at Dover High School: "The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin's Theory of Evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is a part. Because Darwin's Theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The Theory is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations. Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view. The reference book, Of Pandas and People, is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves. With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the Origins of Life to individual students and their families. As a Standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on Standards-based assessments."