{"id":14182,"date":"2024-01-24T16:37:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T21:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/au.org\/?page_id=14182"},"modified":"2025-02-28T15:48:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T20:48:21","slug":"liberty-counsel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/liberty-counsel\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty Counsel"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Liberty Counsel: Dismantling civil rights<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Liberty Counsel, part of the Shadow Network of Christian Nationalist organizations, ultra-conservative billionaires and political power brokers who succeeded in overturning\u00a0Roe v. Wade<\/em>,\u00a0is coming after marriage equality next.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Marriage equality<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mat Staver, chairman and co-founder of\u00a0 Liberty Counsel,\u00a0told\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in January 2024 that they intend to urge the Supreme Court to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, which was secured by the\u00a0Obergefell v. Hodges<\/em>\u00a0ruling:<\/p>

\u201cWe will argue that the 2015 case of\u00a0Obergefell v. Hodges<\/em>\u00a0should be overruled. Only two of the original five justices remain on the bench. Chief Justice John Roberts filed a strong dissent to the case, along with [Justices] Thomas and Alito.\u00a0Obergefell<\/em>\u00a0is on very thin ice and lacks legal [sic] any legal precedent or foundation.\u201d<\/p>

Incredibly, Staver said that he\u2019ll make this argument in court while appealing a recent ruling in the long-running case of\u00a0Kim Davis<\/a>, the Kentucky county clerk who became a martyr for Christian Nationalists when she was briefly jailed in 2015 for refusing to perform her elected government duties and issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Davis has repeatedly lost in court and judges in 2023 and 2024 ordered her to pay more than $350,000 in attorneys fees and damages to one of the couples denied a license.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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LGBTQ+ rights<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Davis might be Liberty Counsel\u2019s most well-known client, but this Christian Nationalist legal group has been around since Staver founded it in 1989 as a Christian \u201cministry\u201d\u00a0 whose\u00a0goal<\/a>\u00a0is \u201cadvocating, supporting advancing and defending the good news about Jesus Christ.\u201d For Liberty Counsel, that means opposing abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights; the\u00a0Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a>\u00a0has identified Liberty Counsel as an anti-LGBT hate group.<\/p>

\"Kim<\/p>

Davis\u2019 case is messy, drawn out, and would not be a good vehicle for the Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality, even if Staver were correct that a majority of the Supreme Court might consider doing so. But that won\u2019t deter Liberty Counsel.\u00a0In Davis\u2019 case, Liberty Counsel has employed the usual Shadow Network tactic of dragging out cases in hopes of eventually getting before a favorable Supreme Court.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The money<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Liberty Counsel is not your typical 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.\u00a0It\u2019s hard to calculate the group\u2019s financial contribution to the billion-dollar Shadow Network\u2019s war chest because Liberty Counsel now\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0to be an \u201cassociation of churches\u201d so it can opt out of filing the annual financial disclosures that the IRS requires of most nonprofits (including AU<\/a>) to ensure public transparency and accountability.<\/p>

In its last-known\u00a0disclosure\u00a0<\/a>nearly a decade ago, Liberty Counsel reported $5.5 million in revenue; on its website, it now\u00a0claims\u00a0<\/a>to have an annual income of $10 million. It has a lobbying arm,\u00a0Liberty Counsel Action<\/a>, which pulls in another $1.8 million a year.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Flags, Commandments and COVID<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Staver and Liberty Counsel are constantly litigating cases to advance Christian Nationalism.<\/p>

In the 2022 Supreme Court case\u00a0Shurtleff v. Boston<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Liberty Counsel\u00a0represented another\u00a0Christian Nationalist organization called Camp Constitution\u00a0that wanted to fly the Christian flag over Boston\u2019s City Hall.<\/p>

Liberty Counsel lost a 2005 Supreme Court case in which it\u00a0represented\u00a0Kentucky counties<\/a>\u00a0that unconstitutionally displayed the Ten Commandments. The loss cost the counties\u00a0hundreds of thousands of dollars<\/a>\u00a0even though \u201cStaver stated that the battle is costing Pulaski taxpayers \u2018zero\u2019 dollars, since Liberty Counsel is working \u2018pro bono.\u2019\u201d<\/p>

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Liberty Counsel filed lawsuit after lawsuit challenging\u00a0public health measures<\/a>, including limits on crowd sizes and vaccination requirements on behalf of the religious organizations Andrew Wommack Ministries in Colorado, Harvest Rock Church in California, and others.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Supreme Court<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Staver and Liberty Council have deep and intimate ties to several Supreme Court justices, especially after Liberty Counsel absorbed and renamed the Faith and Action ministry that regularly held\u00a0private prayer sessions<\/a>\u00a0with conservative justices in their chambers, including Alito, Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia.\u00a0\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/a><\/em>\u00a0broke the story just days after the 2022 term ended: \u201cSitting Supreme Court justices have prayed together with evangelical leaders whose bosses were bringing cases and arguments before the high court.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\"The Supreme Court continues to advance the agenda of religious extremists who are trying to force all of us to live by their narrow beliefs. When the court abolished the nationwide right to abortion, we warned LGBTQ+ rights were their next target. And here we are. Religious extremists and their political allies are willing to destroy our democracy to advance Christian Nationalism.\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRACHEL LASER, PRESIDENT AND CEO<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Recommended Readings<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The Way Forward: The Supreme Court Is Eroding Church-State Separation. Where Do We Go From Here?<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Garrick v. Moody Bible Institute<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Shurtleff v. Boston<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Federal Judge Tosses Liberty Counsel\u2019s Lawsuit Over \u2018Hate Group\u2019 Label<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Obergefell v. Hodges<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Americans United is fighting corruption, dark money, and an overfunded crusade against the separation of church and state. We need your support.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDONATE TODAY<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liberty Counsel: Dismantling civil rights Liberty Counsel, part of the Shadow Network of Christian Nationalist organizations, ultra-conservative billionaires and political power brokers who succeeded in overturning\u00a0Roe v. Wade,\u00a0is coming after marriage equality next. Marriage equality Mat Staver, chairman and co-founder of\u00a0 Liberty Counsel,\u00a0told\u00a0The Washington Post\u00a0in January 2024 that they intend to urge the Supreme Court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":14200,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"issue_tax":[],"class_list":["post-14182","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14182"},{"taxonomy":"issue_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_tax?post=14182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}