Charles LiMandri

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Charles LiMandri
Charles LiMandri.jpg
Charles LiMandri at the White House in 2006
Born1955 (age 65–66)
San Diego, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
OccupationAttorney
Organization
  • LiMandri & Jonna LLP
  • Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund
Spouse(s)Barbara
Children5

Charles LiMandri (born 1955) is an American lawyer. In a case that made national headlines, he litigated against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the defense of the Mount Soledad Cross in San Diego. The battle over the religious symbol, which lasted more than 25 years, is one of the longest in the history on the United States. [1] Limandri has a private law practice, and in 2002 he founded the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund to pay for his pro bono work on behalf of religious freedom.

Contents

Early life and education

LiMandri was born in San Diego, California, in 1955. [2] [3] He attended Catholic primary and secondary schools, and graduated from Saint Augustine High School in 1973. His undergraduate studies were taken at the University of San Diego (USD), also a Catholic school. In 1977 LiMandri completed his graduate studies at USD. He returned to Saint Augustine High School for a brief period to work as a teacher and wrestling coach. Then he began his graduate work at Georgetown Law. During this period he spent a year studying abroad in England at Oxford University. [3]

Career

Mount Soledad Cross Mount Soledad Cross WF.jpg
Mount Soledad Cross

LiMandri started practicing law in San Diego in 1985. [2] His primary areas are business law and personal injury. As of 2015, five attorneys are on staff at his law firm. [3]

His first venture into religious freedom casework came in 2003 when he filed an amicus brief in a case to keep "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. In the lawsuit, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow , the United States Supreme Court ruled against Newdow. [3] [4]

The effort by the ACLU to remove the Mount Soledad Cross began in 1998. Erected in 1954, the 43-foot (13 m) tall mountaintop cross is a familiar San Diego landmark. LiMandri's involvement began in 2004. For the next twelve years the case worked its way through the state and federal judiciaries until ownership by a private organization was established in 2016. [1] LiMandri's efforts to prevent the removal of the cross drew national attention and is his most high-profile case. [3]

In 2007, LiMandri brought a lawsuit against the City of San Diego when they forced four firefighters to drive their fire truck in the annual gay pride parade against their deeply held religious beliefs. At the parade the firefighters were sexually harassed. In a jury trial, the verdict was returned in favor of the firefighters. In 2011 the verdict was affirmed by the California Supreme Court. [5]

At the 2009 Miss USA pageant, then-Miss California Carrie Prejean was asked about same-sex marriage. Her reply, "I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman", caused controversy. When the Miss California USA Pageant fired Prejean on an unrelated violation of her contract, LiMandri filed a lawsuit on her behalf; the pageant then filled a counter-suit. After a homemade sex video depicting Prejean surfaced, both parties agreed to an undisclosed settlement. [6]

Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund

We're trying to preserve a Judeo-Christian culture which permeates society. There's no financial incentive. But there’s a big incentive to better society for future generations.

–Charles LiMandri on defending religious freedom [3]

In 2012 LiMandri founded the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) to help fund his pro bono work on behalf of religious freedom. [7] FCDF's mission is to provide "pro bono legal services and spearheads educational initiatives on issues related to religious freedom, bioethics, and family values." FCDF is an allied firm with Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian legal group. [7] Maggie Gallagher, former chairman of National Organization for Marriage, is a boardmember. [3]

Other cases

LiMandri represented the Jewish organization JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing) from 2012 to 2015 in the case Ferguson v. JONAH . In 2012, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit against JONAH, alleging that the organization had violated New Jersey's consumer fraud law by offering conversion therapy to gay men and women. The case went to trial in June 2015 and the jury found JONAH liable for consumer fraud and unconscionable business practices.

"What was your name?" is a 2014 song by singer-songwriter Joyce Bartholomew. She said the song was inspired by an epiphany: "There has been 58 million abortions since 1973... and how many babies have been aborted and killed, and who would they have become if they had been given a chance?" The song's music video had received 52,000 views on YouTube when the website deleted the video, stating that it had been "removed because its content violated YouTube's Terms of Service." LiMandri brought suit against YouTube on Bartholomew's behalf for libel. The Sixth District Court of Appeal ruled against Bartholomew, but the video was eventually restored. [8]

In 2017 two women entered Cathy Miller's cakeshop, Tastries Bakery, and requested a wedding cake for their same-sex wedding. Miller refused to create the custom cake due to her deeply held religious beliefs and the state sought a court order to force her to bake the cake. The case is similar to one currently before the Supreme Court Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. On February 5, 2018, a judge of the Superior Court of California agreed with LiMandri's Free Speech argument and issued a preliminary ruling in favor of Miller to which LiMandri said was a "significant victory for faith and freedom." [9] [10]

Personal life

LiMandri met his wife, Barbara, when she was working as a paralegal. The couple have five children. LiMandri is a devout Catholic. [3]

Related Research Articles

Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 542 U.S. 1 (2004), was a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit, originally filed as Newdow v. United States Congress, Elk Grove Unified School District, et al. in 2000, led to a 2002 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are an endorsement of religion and therefore violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. After an initial decision striking the congressionally added "one nation under God" language, the superseding opinion on denial of rehearing en banc was more limited, holding that compelled recitation of the language by school teachers to students was invalid.

Michael Newdow

Michael Arthur Newdow is an American attorney and emergency medicine physician. He is best known for his efforts to have recitations of the current version of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools in the United States declared unconstitutional because of its inclusion of the phrase "under God". He also filed and lost a lawsuit to stop the invocation prayer at President Bush's second inauguration and in 2009 he filed a lawsuit to prevent references to God and religion from being part of President Obama's inauguration.

"Separation of church and state" is paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

Peter H. Irons is an American political activist, civil rights attorney, legal scholar, and professor emeritus of political science. He has written many books on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional litigation.

Mount Soledad

Mount Soledad is a prominent landmark in the city of San Diego, California, United States. The mountaintop is the site of the Mount Soledad Cross, the subject of a 25-year controversy over the involvement of religion in government which concluded in 2016.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an American conservative Christian nonprofit advocacy group. ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. It also has four branch offices located in Folsom, California; Washington, D.C.; Lawrenceville, Georgia; and New York.

Thomas More Law Center Christian, conservative, nonprofit, public interest law firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan, US

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 its 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."

Eddie Tabash

Edward Tabash is an American lawyer and political and social activist. He is an atheist, a proponent of the Establishment Clause. He chairs the Board of Directors for the Center for Inquiry. Tabash has represented the atheist position in debates against several world-renowned religious philosophers and apologists, including William Lane Craig, Peter van Inwagen, J.P. Moreland, Greg Bahnsen and Richard Swinburne.

Mount Soledad Cross

The Mount Soledad Cross is a prominent landmark located on top of Mount Soledad in the La Jolla neighborhood of the city of San Diego, California. The present structure was erected in 1954; it is the third Christian cross in that location, the first having been put up in 1913. Architect Donald Campbell designed the present cross in prestressed concrete. It is 29 feet (8.8 m) tall with a 12-foot (3.7 m) arm spread. It is the centerpiece of the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.

Carrie Prejean

Caroline Michelle "Carrie" Prejean Boller is an American model, former Miss California USA 2009, and Miss USA 2009 first runner-up. Later, Prejean was stripped of her Miss California USA crown for alleged breaches of contract. Contentious litigation between Prejean and the Miss California organization was settled in November 2009. Later that month, Prejean released a book relating the story from her point of view.

Protests against Proposition 8 supporters

Protests against Proposition 8 supporters in California took place starting in November 2008. These included prominent protests against the Roman Catholic church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which supported California's Proposition 8. The proposition was a voter referendum that amended the state constitution to recognize marriage only as being between one man and one woman, thus banning same-sex marriage, which was legal in the state following a May 2008 California Supreme Court case.

The Thomas More Society is a conservative law firm based in Chicago. Founded in 1997, the group has been engaged in many "culture war" issues, promoting its anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage beliefs through litigation. The society filed cases as part of Donald Trump's failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Trump was defeated.

The Miss USA 2009 controversy centered on Miss California USA 2009 Carrie Prejean's answer to a question regarding same-sex marriage. On April 19, 2009, during the ceremony of Miss USA 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the five finalists were all asked about political issues such as how to fight domestic violence, whether to use taxpayer money to bail out corporations, whether to give immigrants access to health care, and whether or the United States should donate money to the government of Afghanistan to fund its elections. Kenya Moore, Miss USA 1993, has stated that the questions were "far too political and it's divisive as well".

Pacific Justice Institute

The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) is a conservative legal defense organization in California, United States.

The Arlene's Flowers lawsuit is a group of merged civil suits brought against Arlene's Flowers of Richland, Washington, US, by a couple whose longtime florist declined service of their same-sex wedding, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The lawsuits gained national attention due to their religious and civil rights implications.

Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), was a case in the Supreme Court of the United States that dealt with whether owners of public accommodations can refuse certain services based on the First Amendment claims of free speech and free exercise of religion, and therefore be granted an exemption from laws ensuring non-discrimination in public accommodations — in particular, by refusing to provide creative services, such as making a custom wedding cake for the marriage of a gay couple, on the basis of the owner's religious beliefs.

In the United States, a religious freedom bill is a bill that, according to its proponents, allows those with religious objections to oppose LGBT rights in accordance with traditional religious teachings without being punished by the government for doing so. This typically concerns an employee who objects to abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, civil unions, or transgender identity and wishes to avoid situations where they will be expected to put those objections aside. Proponents commonly refer to such proposals as religious liberty or conscience protection.

Kristen Waggoner is an American constitutional lawyer. She was the lead counsel in a notable First Amendment case at the United States Supreme Court, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. In the lawsuit, Waggoner represented Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips. She currently serves as Senior Vice President at the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

Fulton v. City of Philadelphia is a pending case before the United States Supreme Court dealing with litigation over discrimination of local regulations based the Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause of First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The specific case deals with a religious-backed foster care agency that was denied a new contract by the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to the agency's refusal to provide service to married same-sex couples on religious grounds.

References

  1. 1 2 Moran, Greg (September 9, 2016). "Soledad cross case concludes, leaving memorial in place". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "About". Alumni For A Catholic USD. Archived from the original on February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tash, Joe (November 2, 2015). "Faith motivates Rancho Santa Fe attorney in high-profile legal battles". Rancho Santa Fe Review. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. ↑ "Elk Grove Unified School District v Newdow". Casemine.
  5. ↑ "Firefighters forced to participate in gay pride parade win legal battle". Catholic News Agency. January 31, 2011. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. ↑ Alan, Duke (November 4, 2009). "Source: Carrie Prejean 'sex tape' spurred pageant settlement". CNN. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. 1 2 "About Us". Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. ↑ "YouTube Not Liable for Implications of Removal Notice". Metropolitan News-Enterprise. November 6, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  9. ↑ Barkoukis, Leah (February 7, 2018). "California Judge Rules Christian Baker Does Not Have to Make Wedding Cakes for Gay Couples". Townhall.com. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  10. ↑ Harvey, Kyle (February 5, 2018). "Kern County judge rules against State of California in case against Tastries Bakery". BakersfieldNow.com. Retrieved February 8, 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
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