Recent Victories
The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides legal services at no charge to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. In addition to the cases that are won in litigation, the Institute also successfully defends the rights of individuals and institutions simply by providing them with appropriate legal information and resources and by writing letters on their behalf. This is due in large part to The Rutherford Institute's reputation as a fierce defender of religious freedom and civil liberties.
The following are some of our most recent victories, both inside and outside of the courtroom. If you Need Legal Help or would like to Support the Work of The Rutherford Institute, please don't hesitate to contact us today!
Rutherford Institute Attorneys Win Civil Rights Victory for Pennsylvania Pro-Life Activist William Depner [3/24/2005]
PITTSBURGH—Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute won a civil rights victory for pro-life activist William S. Depner, a resident of McKeesport, Penn. After Institute attorneys filed an appeal on Depner’s behalf, a Court of Common Pleas judge acquitted Depner of harassment charges for photographing girls who appeared to be underage as they entered a local Planned Parenthood facility. Depner claims he was concerned that girls under the age of 16 entering Planned Parenthood may have been victims of statutory rape and believed photographs were the best way to prove his allegations of abuse. Read more.
Rutherford Institute Wins First Amendment Victory for Student Prohibited Under Zero Tolerance From Wearing Marine Corps Creed T-Shirt to School [3/11/2005]
FORT WAYNE, Ind.—The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana has ruled in favor of the First Amendment rights of a high school student who was prohibited under his school’s dress policy from wearing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of an M-16 rifle and the text of the Marine Corps Creed. While the court ruled that the school’s ban on “symbols of violence” is permitted by the First Amendment, it held the ban on the Marine T-shirt in question to be unconstitutional. “Schools are under undeniable pressure to prevent student violence, and the commitment of the Board and administrators here in that regard is commendable,” stated Judge Cosbey in his order. “Yet, the discretion afforded to administrators to censor student speech cannot be limitless.” Read more.
Rutherford Institute Attorneys Protect California Church’s Right to Build House of Worship on Church Property [3/7/2005]
ONTARIO, Calif.—Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have succeeded in helping a California church prevail against an attempt by city officials to use local zoning ordinances to prevent the church from building a house of worship. Institute attorneys cite recent rulings under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which forbids state and local governments from imposing or implementing a zoning or landmark law in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise, as having contributed to the settlement in which city officials agreed to allow the Church of the Light to proceed with plans to build a church. Read more.
Texas Officials Concede to Rutherford Institute Demands, Modify Regulations to Allow Prayer, Religious Expression at the Alamo
SAN ANTONIO, Texas—The Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) have agreed to The Rutherford Institute’s demands that they modify their rules and regulations regarding the use of the historic Alamo Shrine, grounds and complex buildings to allow for the free exercise of religious expression and prayer on its grounds. Rutherford Institute attorneys had contacted the DRT, the designated custodians of the Alamo for the State of Texas, on behalf of Jeremy Errickson, director of a young adult discipleship program who was prohibited from engaging in a group prayer while touring the Alamo. The DRT had insisted that praying on the solemn property constituted a violation of “the separation of church and state.” Rutherford Institute affiliate attorney Michael Clark of the Clark Law Firm in Boerne,Texas, worked with the DRT to negotiate the revision of its policy. Read more.
U.S. District Court Grants Victory to Rutherford Institute, Orders School Officials to Restore Cross-Engraved Bricks to Walkway
ALEXANDRIA, Va.— In a recent ruling, Judge James C. Cacheris of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has held that Potomac Falls High School wrongly discriminated against several students and their parents when they removed cross-engraved bricks, purchased by the families, from a school walkway. “The Court holds that having created a limited public forum, the school engaged in impermissible viewpoint discrimination against expression with a religious viewpoint.” The ruling, which comes in response to a lawsuit filed by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, requires school officials to immediately return the bricks to their former places in the “Walkway of Fame.” Read more.
State Court Agrees With Rutherford Institute, Reprimands School Officials for Expelling Student Over Toy Laser Pointer
GREELEY, Colo. — Responding to a petition by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, Judge Julie C. Hoskins of the District Court for Weld County has ruled that school officials erred in expelling a 13-year-old boy for handling a toy laser pointer. Institute attorneys filed an appeal in March 2003 in the District Court for Weld County on behalf of 13-year-old Mitch Muller after school officials expelled him from North Valley Middle School for handling a classmate’s toy laser pointer during class. School officials claimed that Mitch, who had never been subject to any disciplinary action in school, was in violation of a school policy banning firearm facsimiles, because the toy laser pointer, which had a bright orange tip on the “barrel,” resembled a gun. Institute attorneys argued that expelling Mitch for possession of a so-called “firearm facsimile” without the benefit of a public hearing was a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights. Although Mitch completed a six-week alternative program in Greeley that allowed him to return to school, Institute attorneys sought to have the expulsion set aside. In ruling that the Board of Education “abused its discretion in finding that the object in question [the toy laser pointer] could be reasonably mistaken for an actual firearm,” Hoskins granted the Institute’s request that Mitch’s expulsion set aside. Read more.
Institute Succeeds in Protecting Muslim Girl’s Right to Wear Religious Head Covering
MUSKOGEE,Okla.—Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have successfully settled a lawsuit against the Muskogee Public School District, after school officials twice suspended an 11-year-old Muslim girl for wearing a religious head covering. Under terms of the agreement, the Muskogee Public School District has agreed to change its dress code to allow exceptions for religious reasons. The settlement also requires the school district to put in place a training program for all teachers and administrators about the new dress code and to publicize the change. Read more.
Institute Secures Victory for Religious Employee Fired by AT&T for Refusing to Sign Certificate of Understanding About Homosexuality
DENVER —In response to a lawsuit filed by Rutherford Institute attorneys, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado has ruled in favor of a Denver man who was fired from his job with AT&T Broadband after he refused to sign off on portions of the company’s employee handbook that he felt violated his sincerely held religious beliefs. The ruling awards Albert Buonanno with back pay and lost 401(k) matching contributions arising out of AT&T’s refusal to accommodate his religious beliefs. Read more.
Virginia Grants Rutherford Institute President’s Request To Respect
Death Row Inmate’s Religious Objection To Autopsy After Execution
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—In response to a request for religious accommodation for a death row inmate by John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, the Commonwealth of Virginia has agreed to accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs of the inmate regarding an autopsy that was being demanded by the state. As suggested by Whitehead, officials from the Commonwealth’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner agreed to perform external and toxicological examinations of Cherrix in lieu of an autopsy. Whitehead made the appeal for accommodation in a letter to Virginia Governor Mark Warner, State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, and the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Examiner on behalf of Brian Lee Cherrix. Cherrix, a death row inmate in the Greenville Correctional Center is scheduled to be executed on March 18, 2004.
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