UPDATE: Our continuing battle in the court room
Posted by Matt Yonke on Monday, February 25th, 2008
Our fight against Planned Parenthood in the courts is continuing, and every day that goes by brings us one step closer to getting to the bottom of PP's lies in coming into Aurora and, God willing, one step closer to kicking them out.
Tom Brejcha and Peter Breen at the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center have been working tirelessly as well as getting some input from some attorneys from Washington D.C. who contributed to the NOW v. Scheidler trial. All the attorneys are very excited about these cases. We could see some big waves rippling out from Aurora, IL in the coming years.
Here's an update of what's happening in each of the three cases currently in court:
Frachey et al. v. Planned Parenthood
As I posted here on the 14th, the zoning case [PDF] against PP and the City of Aurora has been filed. We are currently in the legal limbo of waiting for the attorneys for the defense to reply to our complaint. They have till March 20 to file that reply. If past performance is any indication of future results, we will likely be waiting till the 20th to get that reply.
Once we get their reply, our attorneys will go over it and file a response to it. After that, the trial will begin in earnest. Look for that to happen late March or early April. We will, of course, keep you updated as developments occur.
Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood et al. v. The City of Aurora
When we filed our 1st Amendment case against the City of Aurora, the city's attorneys immediately called for a settlement conference to try to brush this thing under the rug. Unfortunately for them, this case is far too big for that.
You may have heard about the original date set for that conference, which was Ash Wednesday, but it didn't happen that day. Our attorneys needed a little more time to build up a rock solid case against the City and PP, so the conference has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 26, which is Easter Wednesday, or Bright Wednesday as we call it in the Eastern Churches. What an encouraging day to have a lawsuit! Pray that new life will triumph.
Elizabeth and Roger Earl et al. v. Steve Trombley
Finally, the libel case [PDF], which has found itself on the back burner for a while now, through no fault on our side. The defense hired a high powered Chicago attorney, Leah Bruno, who has worked for the likes of McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Prudential insurance. You can look her up here. Ms. Bruno asked for more time to review our case, so we've been waiting several weeks to give her time to do that.
The next action on that case will take place March 19, and after that, much like the zoning case, we will respond to her reply to our complaint, the the trial will get rolling in earnest.
So that's the story so far. All three suits are rolling along nicely, though law, like most government operations, takes time. As I said earlier, our attorneys could not be more excited, both about our chances and about the implications these cases could have nationwide.
As always, pray hard for our attorneys and the judges for wisdom, and for the PP, the city, and their attorneys that they might fall into their own nets, as the psalmist says, or experience glorious conversion!
It is great to see that these judicial issues are moving forward.
On the legislative front, there is a very bad bill that has recently been introduced into the Illinois General Assembly. It is House Bill 5615. You can get more information about this bill by going to the Catholic Conference of Illinois website at:
http://www.catholicconferenceofillinois.org
If passed, HB 5615 would DENY any regulation on abortion including parental notification and partial birth abortion ban. It would use Medicaid funds for abortion and allow employers to fire health care workers who are opposed to abortion and contraception. This bill's scope is very wide ranging.
Please call your senator and representative in the Illinois General Assembly and ask them to vote NO on this bill. You can get their contact information at the previously mentioned website.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
TomS,
Interesting. Who proposed it?
IMO, I don't think anyone in their right mind would vote in favor of it. But then again, I didn't think PP would open, either!
February 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
JLM,
For more information on the history of House Bill 5615, you can go to the following Illinois General Assembly Legislation website:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/
February 28th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
TomS: "…and allow employers to fire health care workers who are opposed to abortion and contraception."
I read the entire bill. Where did you get this?
February 28th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
the 4th provision of Section 35
March 1st, 2008 at 1:47 am
Paul2 says: "the 4th provision of Section 35.
That sections reads as follows: (4) where the objecting health care professional is an employee, the employer can accommodate the employee's objection without undue hardship."
How are you interpreting this to mean that ""…and allow employers to fire health care workers who are opposed to abortion and contraception."?????
Am I looking at the wrong section?
March 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am
As to the continuing battle…..please see the following in the Chicago Tribune.
March 1st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
No worries, Student. This will be appealed—-quite possibly to the Supreme Court. I cannot imagine 35 other states being allowed to enforce these laws, and our state cannot. Would be interesting to see if other appellate courts have ruled on this matter; as if others have, there could be a split in the appellate courts which would require the Supreme Court to hear the case.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I have no doubt it will be appealed. The other states have viable judicial bypass provisions — although IL included a proposed "judicial bypass," Judge Coar didn't find it workable — and that is what he took issue with.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:14 pm
It seems to me that this Judge is attempting to legislate from the bench. At this point, Madigan should just place a pen in his hand, and ask him to write the “judicial bypass” which is suitable to him—-rather than play this back-and-forth game. Has this judge forgotten that his job is supposed to be objective and not subjective?
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Student,
The Illinois Supreme Court refused to write the rules of procedure for the judicial bypass as they were supposed to under the statute. The legislature did nothing about it. There's a law on the books and the government is literally refusing to do what needs to be done to enforce it.
Instead, let's give away free rides to old people to ride mass transit and pretend that the state has a functioning government.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 pm