26 Facts About Liberty Counsel

1.

Liberty Counsel is a 501 tax-exempt religious liberty organization that engages in litigation related to evangelical Christian values.

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2.

Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by its chairman Mathew Staver and its president Anita L Staver, who are attorneys and married to each other.

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3.

Liberty Counsel started as a religious liberty organization that focused its litigation efforts on freedom of speech cases.

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4.

In 1990, Liberty Counsel supported a change in public library rules which had excluded religious and political events from library meeting rooms until the ACLU met with a library official.

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5.

In 1998, Liberty Counsel was part of a coalition of organizations that backed a state-level "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" in Florida; others supporting the bill were the ACLU, Florida Family Counsel, Aleph Institute and Justice Fellowship.

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6.

Liberty Counsel opposed the repeal of the US military's former policy "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that banned personnel from openly identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

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7.

Liberty Counsel has been listed as an anti-gay group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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8.

Liberty Counsel has challenged that SPLC's designation and the Associated Press's reporting thereof.

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9.

In 2017, Liberty Counsel sued GuideStar USA, Inc, an information service specializing in US nonprofit ratings, for flagging Liberty Counsel as having been labeled a hate group by the SPLC.

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10.

In 2018, a Virginia federal judge dismissed Liberty Counsel's suit, ruling that GuideStar's "expressive right to comment on social issues" was protected by the First Amendment.

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11.

In 2020, Liberty Counsel launched "ReOpen Church Sunday" to encourage Christian leaders in the United States to hold in-person services on the first weekend of May On-site religious services had stopped in some locations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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12.

In 2000, Liberty Counsel threatened legal action against a public library in Jacksonville, Florida after the library held a party that featured readings from Harry Potter books and distributed "Hogwarts' Certificate of Accomplishment" to the children who attended.

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13.

Liberty Counsel represented a parent who objected to using secular lyrics to the tune of Silent Night.

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14.

In March, 2020, Liberty Counsel defended a Florida megachurch pastor who was arrested for "unlawful assembly" after holding church services in violation of a public health emergency order.

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15.

Liberty Counsel engaged in attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election in favor of Donald Trump after the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.

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16.

In 1993, Liberty Counsel sued the Orlando airport over a literature distribution policy that required proof of liability insurance.

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17.

Liberty Counsel filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 1993 injunction restricting protests near an abortion facility.

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18.

Liberty Counsel represented the plaintiffs challenging the injunction, which barred protesters from interfering with those entering or exiting an abortion facility within a 36-foot buffer zone.

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19.

Liberty Counsel represented Kentucky counties that posted copies in courthouses.

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20.

Liberty Counsel represented Dixie County, Florida against the American Civil Liberties Union in a 2007 lawsuit involving a Ten Commandments monument.

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21.

In 2010, Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit against Obamacare but the Supreme Court declined to take the case.

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22.

In 2012, Liberty Counsel unsuccessfully maintained a case at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia on behalf of Liberty University against the Affordable Care Act.

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23.

Liberty Counsel lost an earlier ruling in 2015 and in 2016, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an injunction against her at the request of Liberty Counsel after a new Kentucky law was passed that made the case moot.

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24.

Liberty Counsel filed for a stay pending appeal with the US Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.

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25.

Liberty Counsel represented former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis who has fought issuing any marriage licenses because she did not want to issue licenses to same-sex couples based on her religious objection.

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26.

In late 2021, Liberty Counsel filed suit in Florida on behalf of members of the US military who had religious objections to taking COVID-19 vaccinations.

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