LLI Fights for Freedoms

Free Market’s Legal Division, Liberty Legal Institute, has defended the religious freedoms of elementary and middle school students in towns across Texas, including Plano and Katy.

Morgan et al. v. Plano ISD, the first of two suits filed against the Plano Independent School District, resulted when a third-grade boy was prohibited from passing out religious candy canes to classmates at a “winter party.” In 2004, the judge issued a temporary restraining order against the school district, prohibiting it from banning religious student gifts and Christmas-colored decorations. This case has generated mass exposure, as U.S. Senator John Cornyn filed a brief on behalf of the students, “The O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly discussed the Christmas censorship numerous times on air and the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the case.

December 13, 2005—Dispute Between O’Reilly and Plano ISD Spotlights Christmas Censorship Battle

Free Market’s Legal Division, Liberty Legal Institute, has defended the religious freedoms of churches, pastors and seminaries in courts as high as the Texas Supreme Court.

Liberty Legal attorneys won a 8-0 decision at the Texas Supreme Court in the HEB Ministries, Inc., et al. v. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, et al, known as the Texas Seminary Case. One U.S. Justice Department leader called the suit “one of the most significant constitutional cases to be argued in a decade.” The high court’s decision determined that the state cannot regulate seminaries or prohibit the institutions from using the title ‘seminary’ without obtaining government approval.

August 31, 2007—Texas Seminaries Win Right to Offer Theological Degrees at Texas Supreme Court