On Tuesday, I was finally able to tell you about a case we have been fighting for the last 12 years. Today, I can give you more details.
Not content to simply endanger Liberty Counsel staff lives by falsely labeling our ministry a “hate group” in 2011, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is now trying to bankrupt us.
Mark Potok, senior fellow at the SPLC, has repeatedly and unabashedly stated that the SPLC’s goal is to “destroy these groups, to completely destroy them.”
In 2012, after adding Liberty Counsel to the SPLC’s “hate list,” SPLC’s client Janet Jenkins resorted to lawfare by filing suit against her former partner, Lisa Miller (who had become a Christian), and many others. The suit mentioned Liberty Counsel, which represented Lisa, but did not name us as a defendant.
In 2016, Jenkins, who sought custody of Lisa’s biological daughter, amended her complaint, and added Liberty Counsel as a defendant.
Seizing this as an opportunity to “destroy” Liberty Counsel, the SPLC took over representation of Jenkins in 2017, who irrationally and without a shred of evidence, falsely claimed Liberty Counsel helped “kidnap” her former lesbian partner’s child, Isabella. I’ll share more below. — Mat
Help us defeat the SPLC hatemongers who want to destroy us. A special Challenge Grant will DOUBLE your gift.
With its nearly 1-billion-dollar endowment, the SPLC has unlimited resources to attack Liberty Counsel and it has done so by hiring a boatload of attorneys from big firms. After years of litigation, 186,000 documents reviewed, 25 depositions that included over 11,000 pages of exhibits, and 6,800 pages of transcripts, there is not a shred of evidence to support Jenkins’ claim that Liberty Counsel had anything to do with the disappearance of Lisa and Isabella. In fact, the evidence proves just the opposite. Jenkins testified under oath that she wants Liberty Counsel to pay her a whopping sum of 200 BILLION dollars! This is outrageous. To put that into perspective, not even Microsoft founder Bill Gates is worth that much money! But what is even more outrageous is that the facts do not support the SPLC and Jenkins’ contentions. + + Obama and his Attorney General made this case a priority ... The Obama administration made Lisa and Isabella’s disappearance a top priority. The administration scoured three continents and seven countries searching for Lisa and her daughter. Four people were later criminally charged with helping Lisa flee: Lisa Miller, two Mennonite ministers, and Philip Zodhiates. Throughout their criminal trials and convictions, as well as in sworn testimony in Jenkins’ civil lawsuit against us, all have repeatedly testified that Liberty Counsel did not know about their plan and had nothing to do with it before, during, or after Lisa and Isabella’s disappearance. In fact, the record shows that Liberty Counsel staff members took every opportunity to counsel Lisa to follow court orders. But, while the case was pending in Vermont and Virginia, and without warning, Lisa disappeared in September 2009. We advised the courts that we lost contact and sought to withdraw from the case. The Court filings lay the facts bare: “Lisa Miller’s undisputed sworn testimony is that in June 2008, Liberty Counsel attorneys were continuing to advise her that she was required to comply with court orders and that serious consequences would result if she failed to permit the court-ordered visitation, but that Lisa Miller was choosing non-compliance on her own, despite the advice she was receiving from Liberty Counsel.” “Lisa Miller likewise testified under oath that she did not inform Liberty Counsel or [Rena] Lindevaldsen of her alleged plans to flee the country with Isabella Miller.” “Zodhiates confirmed that Liberty Counsel did not know or approve of Lisa Miller’s intent to kidnap Isabella Miller and flee the country, did not know of or approve her plans, and did not assist any person or entity with regards to Lisa Miller’s actions.” “Kenneth Miller’s undisputed sworn testimony is that he has no direct, personal knowledge that Liberty Counsel, Mathew Staver, or Rena Lindevaldsen ever assisted Lisa Miller with disappearing from the United States, in planning Lisa Miller’s fleeing from the United States, or in helping Lisa Miller remain hidden from the United States.” After 12 years and digging through hundreds of thousands of Liberty Counsel files and documents, the SPLC knows that Liberty Counsel did nothing wrong. But the SPLC continues its attack after all these years because they want to destroy us.
Since 1989, Liberty Counsel has won more than 30 cases we have argued or briefed before the U.S. Supreme Court. Our work helped overturn Roe v. Wade, restore the Ten Commandments, end government censorship of Christian speech, and overturn the “Lemon Test,” among other things.
No wonder these haters of life and liberty want to destroy us — we are effective!
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