Am Ctr for Law and Justice

see sekulow, mirror aclu,

NO MERRI

uranium one?

===

NOT BRIBE GRATUITY; NRSC V FEC JD VANCE;

Is the Supreme Court About to Legalize Corruption?

Robert Reich

and 2 more

26,326 views Apr 22, 2026

For decades, rich and powerful interests and their right-wing political allies have been executing a secret plot to buy our political system — and it may get a whole lot worse.

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superspreaders who beleive in small gov't take covis bailout $?!

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trumps-religious-right-backers-get-millions-in-covid%e2%80%8b-19-relief/

Conservative evangelical churches and advocacy groups led by vocal boosters of President Donald Trump have received millions of dollars in coronavirus relief funds, marking a new milestone in the religious right’s long campaign to take a wrecking ball to the wall separating church and state.

The Paycheck Protection Program included in coronavirus relief legislation was designed to help small businesses and other organizations stay afloat and keep people working during the pandemic. Religious-right leaders worked with their allies in Congress and the Trump administration to make sure that churches would be able to receive direct government funding to support clergy salaries and other operational expenses. The program is administered by the Small Business Administration, which waived normal requirements that participants in its loan program abide by nondiscrimination standards.

On June 22, the SBA hosted a “Recovery & Resilience for Faith Based Communities tele-townhall” for leaders of churches and religious nonprofits to urge them to participate in the program by applying before the June 30 deadline—and to lavish praise on Trump for supporting the program. The call was promoted by the White House and religious-right figures like Gary Bauer.

Paula White, who oversees the Trump administration’s faith-based outreach from her perch at the White House, began the call by praying for the president. “Put a hedge and wall of fire around him that no weapon formed against him would be able to prosper,” White prayed.

White praised Trump and his administration’s extensively, saying, “it has always been his heart to make sure that houses of worship and people of faith have been protected.” She continued:

You heard that from way back, he was saying, ‘We’re going to put Merry back in Christmas,’ or talking about the Johnson Amendment. But he’s done so much to accomplish that. Things with religious freedom, like removing restrictions on grants. The PPP is one way that we begin to see this. There are so many others, but there are departments everywhere that have grants, and for years and decades, they’ve had restrictions that people of faith have had very, very difficult time. Well, our president made sure to remove those restrictions on grants, ensuring faith-based has equal access to capital, equal access to grant money.

White’s own City of Destiny church got between $150,000 and $350,000 in PPP funds, according to SBA records.

To overcome the skepticism some conservative Christian leaders might have about getting directly involved with the federal government, officials invited several prominent religious-right leaders to praise the program. While PPP funds could be a lifeline to smaller congregations and nonprofits, it turns out that staying afloat has not been a problem for some megachurches that had online worship and fundraising abilities. Instead, some of those megachurches have used money freed up by paycheck protection to expand their influence in their local communities.

Jentezen Franklin, a member of Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, is pastor of the multi-campus Free Chapel megachurch, based in Gainesville, Georgia. Franklin was effusive on the SBA call, marveling that his church received a “tremendous amount of money” within three weeks of applying for it. Data released by the SBA Monday make it clearer how “tremendous” that amount was—in the $1 million to $2 million range. With payroll covered by government funds and the ability to “catch up online,” Franklin said his church distributed $340,000 to small churches in his community.

Franklin has urged evangelicals to help reelect Trump or be prepared to face tragic consequences. Trump publicly announced that he was watching Franklin’s worship service on March 15, which Trump had declared a national day of prayer.

Samuel Rodriguez, a pastor who prayed at Trump’s inauguration and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said PPP money was “like manna in the desert of this pandemic.” Rodiguez said the church was “made for this hour,” adding that “for this administration to recognize the church and the faith community as essential is a game changer.”

Rodriguez’s New Season Church in Sacramento, California, received between $150,000 and $350,000. He said the money has helped his own church not just survive but help other churches and expand community outreach. Rodriguez, who recently denounced the Democratic Party as “hostile to our Christian worldview,” called the program a “powerful resource” and a “blessing.”

“This is Uncle Sam helping us do the will of our heavenly father,” Rodriguez said. “So the PPP enabled us to cover payroll for our staff that is right now praying for interceding for the needs of our community, not just physical, spiritual, but in mental and emotional needs, literally saving lives.”

Also on the SBA call was another member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and longtime opponent of reproductive choice and LGBTQ equality. Dobson said that his organization, the James Dobson Family Institute, “has literally been kept solvent this spring and summer by the Paycheck Protection Plan.” Dobson said that thanks to the money his organization had received, adding, “We have not asked for a cent from anybody in six months.”

Other Trump-supporting leaders and organizations have done quite well. Here’s a sampling, drawn from our own research and other reporting on the SBA records:

First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, led by Trump cheerleaderRobert Jeffress, was among the megachurches listed as having received between $2 million and $5 million. Another was Guillermo Maldonado’s King Jesus International Ministry, which hosted an Evangelicals for Trump campaign launch last year.
The American Center for Law and Justice, part of the lucrative legal empire of Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and his family, got between $1 million and $2 million.
The anti-LGBTQ advocates at Liberty Counsel received between $350,000 and $1 million.
End Times pastor Jim Bakker’s Morningside Church got between $350,000 and $1 million.
Televangelist Rick Joyner’s Morningstar Church got between $350,000 and $1 million.

Initially, the idea of tax dollars directly supporting clergy and church operations was defended as an extraordinary response to the unique situation caused by the pandemic. But on a phone call organized by Paula White’s One Voice Prayer Movement in May,former Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia, founder of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, celebrated that “precedents for religious freedom” that are being set during the pandemic—specifically the unprecedented use of federal tax dollars to directly fund clergy and churches—“are going to endure long after this coronavirus has gone.”

Marcus Harris, director of faith and community initiatives in the office of Entrepreneurial Development at the SBA, told people in the call, “One thing I’m able to say in my role as the faith-based leader here at SBA is that I know for many of you this is your first interaction with SBA, but we do not want this to be your last,” a sentiment that was repeated by SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza.

Tags: Donald Trump James Dobson Jentezen Franklin Jim Bakker Paula White Rick Joyner Robert Jeffress Samuel Rodriguez Church-State Coronavirus Election 2020 Trump Administration American Center for Law and Justice First Baptist Church Dallas Liberty Counsel Trump Administration

former deputy director at the Republican National Committee, Drew Ryun is the political director of the Madison Project. After his stint at the Republican National Committee, Drew served as Director of Government Affairs for Jay Sekulow and the American Center for Law and Justice. A twice published author, Drew launched Media Trackers in 2011, a non-profit, investigative news site.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-legal-team-shared-office-space-with-top-conservative-legal-group

Trump’s Lawyers Sharing Space With Anti-‘Deep-State’ Group

The powerful conservative non-profit happens to be suing the administration over, among other matters, Uranium One.

BETSY WOODRUFF

LACHLAN MARKAY

03.22.18

President Donald Trump’s legal team has done work out of the Capitol Hill offices of a conservative nonprofit group run by one of the president’s lawyers.

Two sources familiar with the situation say attorneys representing the president in the probe into Russian election meddling have met at and worked out of the headquarters of theAmerican Center for Law and Justice, a 501(c)(3) legal advocacy nonprofit run by Jay Sekulow, a member of the president’s legal team.

A spokesperson for the ACLJ did not dispute this report.

"The American Center for Law and Justice has maintained a Washington D.C. office for many years,” said Gene Kapp, a spokesperson for the organization. “The work done by the ACLJ is separate and distinct from the work performed by those who serve as Counsel to the President. Any non-ACLJ related work that occurs at the ACLJ offices is reimbursed in compliance with all applicable tax laws.”

From a strictly legal perspective, the arrangement appears above board, so long as ACLJ is charging market rates to rent the space, according to Brendan Fischer, the director of federal reform programs at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit watchdog.

“The only way this would be an issue is if ACLJ was offering its services at less than fair market value, or using ACLJ resources without being compensated” by the president, the White House, or the Trump campaign, Fischer said in an email.

As Sekulow represents the president in matters related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, ACLJ has also pursued litigation that, while not directly related to that investigation, aligns with efforts by the president and his allies to deflect from allegations that the Russian government worked to elect Trump in 2016.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Center_for_Law_and_Justice

American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) was established in 1990, by "Dr. M.G. Pat Robertson, a Yale law school graduate, religious leader, entrepreneur, and concerned citizen, [who] decided to act to undo the damage done by almost a century of liberal thinking and activism. He founded the American Center for Law and Justice," its website states.^[1]

About

The Center states in its profile:^[1]

The ACLJ, in just a few years, has become this nation's pre-eminent public interest law firm and educational organization dedicated to defending and advancing religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the two-parent, marriage-bound family.From the U.S. Supreme Court to local school boards, lawyers of the ACLJ have been defending the rights of believers, standing up for the unborn, the elderly and the infirm, and reasserting the primary rights of parents and the centrality of the family.Already the ACLJ has proven a formidable opponent to those who would seek to undermine these fundamental institutions of the American civilization. Here are just a few examples of how the American Center for Law and Justice has helped people who have had their religious or civil liberties attacked.When abortion supporters alleged that pro-life social protest was discrimination against women, the ACLJ went to the U.S. Supreme Court in Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic and guaranteed that persons opposed to abortion are free to express those views peacefully without the threat of censorship or recrimination through the misuse of federal anti-discrimination laws.When a school would not rent its facilities to a local church because of the religious content of the church's message, we went to the U.S. Supreme Court in Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches School District, and won the important right for religious groups to have equal access to public facilities.When students are told they cannot start Bible clubs in their schools, or when their Bible clubs don't receive equal treatment like other clubs, our legal teams spring into action to defend the student's rights.These victories have been accomplished in spite of theintense opposition of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU).They have openly named us as their adversary. So have People for the American Way, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Planned Parenthood and many other special-interest activist groups.The ACLJ engages in litigation, provides legal services, renders advice and counsels clients, and supports attorneys who are involved in defending the religious and civil liberties of Americans.The American Center has a national network of attorneys who are committed to the defense of Judeo-Christian values. We also cooperate with other organizations that are committed to a similar mission, and serve the public through educational efforts regarding First Amendment and religious freedom issues as well as pro-family and pro-life concerns.As a nonprofit organization that does not charge for its legal services, the American Center for Law and Justice is dependent upon God and the resources He provides through the time, talent, and gifts of people who share our concerns over the erosion of our religious and civil liberties.

Personnel

Jay Allen Sekulow, Chief Counsel

Contact information

http://www.aclj.org/

Resources

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 About, ACLJ.org.

External articles

Debra England, "Top 10 charitable gift ideas for this holiday season," TownHall.com, December 16, 2006.

Categories: Law firms | United States | Civil liberties (U.S.) | Needs review

---- some punked bs?

http://www**.rightwingwatch.**org/content/american-center-law-justice

Founded by Pat Robertson, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and its Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow quickly established themselves as key players in the right-wing movement, litigating a variety of cases at all levels, including the Supreme Court. The ACLJ has been particularly active in fighting marriage equality and defending the Pledge of Allegiance, while Sekulow has maintained very close ties to the Bush White House and played a central role in pushing for the confirmation of Supreme Court Justices Roberts and Alito.

American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ)

PO Box 64429

1000 Regent University Drive

Virginia Beach, VA 23467

Website: http://www.aclj.org

Founder: Pat Robertson, founder of the 700 Club, Christian Coalition, Operation Blessing, Regent University

Date established: 1990

Executive Director/Chief Counsel: Jay Sekulow

Publications: Newsletter, education pamphlets, reports, and Foundations of Freedom, a free booklet on the "nation's most important documents."

Annual Budget: $14,650,162 (2004)

:{Employees: 50

Media: Sekulow has been a popular guest on nationally televised news programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CNBC, and PBS. He is also frequently quoted in articles published in the mainstream press.}:

Media: "Jay Sekulow Live!" is a daily weekday radio show that is aired on over 550 radio stations in the U.S., heard by 1.5 million listeners; "ACLJ This Week" broadcasts throughout the week on multiple cable TV channels.

Principal Issues

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is a legal advocacy group "dedicated to defending and advancing religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the two-parent, marriage-bound family."
ACLJ is a strong supporter of the Federal Marriage Amendment intended toban same-sex marriage.
ACLJ has been involved with more than 30 cases before the United States Supreme Court and has been successful in many of its lawsuits.
ACLJ is a strong supporter ofschool vouchersand filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the 2002 Cleveland voucher case before the Supreme Court.
The ACLJ supports the funding of faith-based social services, religious proclamations in the public domain, and often equates religious expression with patriotism.
ACLJ strongly opposes the right to legal, safe abortion and provides legal help to pro-life protesters who harass women seeking reproductive services.
The ACLJ challenges domestic partnership benefits for city and state employees, anti-discrimination ordinances that include sexual orientation, and generally fights against the right of gays and lesbians to be parents.
The ACLJ's legal services are free.

Activities

In 2004-2005, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) played a key role in the effort to eliminate the minority party's ability to make use of a senatorial filibuster for judicial nominees.
ACLJ gives free legal advice and counsel and maintains a national Christian Affiliate Attorney list for referrals.
Two of the Supreme Court cases argued by Sekulow have become benchmark cases in the area of religious liberty litigation. In Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (496 US 226), Sekulow argued the right of public school students to form Bible clubs and religious organizations on their school campuses. In Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches School District, Sekulow defended the rights of religious groups to use public school property for religious meetings after hours.
A few other examples of ACLJ cases:

- ACLJ defended a group of parents who drove a transsexual teacher out of her job in Minnesota,
- Supported a Kmart pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills, and
- Pursued litigation over various claims that children are being told that they cannot pray on school grounds or talk about their religion.

About Jay Sekulow

- Jay Sekulow helped draft the Defense of the Marriage Act (DOMA), which passed both houses and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. DOMA allows states to reject the legitimacy of same-sex marriage licenses awarded in other states, although, to this day no state offers marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Sekulow helped draft DOMA: "[and] at the request of several pro-family legislators, [I] gave expert testimony to both houses of Congress on this bill." (Jay Sekulow, 1997)
- The National Law Journal has twice named Sekulow one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers" in the United States. (1994, 1997); he is a leading conservative lawyer, and has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court.
- In 2005, Sekulow was named one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals" in America by TIME Magazine.
- Sekulow has also worked closely with the White House in promoting and defending the Bush administration's Supreme Court nominees.

Quotes

"This great American institution [Boy Scouts of America] has come under attack from homosexual activists—who may well set their sights on your church next."

– Jay Sekulow, direct mail, March 2000

"Can you imagine, that in public schools of America today, students are being taught that homosexual conduct, which in many states is still deemed illegal, is not only a viable alternative lifestyle, but is actually equal to heterosexual relationships?"

– Jay Sekulow, January 2, 1997, Danbury News-Times

Updated: August 2006