First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a nonprofit Christian conservative legal organization based in Plano, Texas. Prominent in the legal circles on the Christian right, the organization litigates in First Amendment cases on religion, and is often referred to as a law firm. The group has taken stances against LGBT rights. First Liberty Institute is headed by Kelly Shackelford who founded the organization in 1997 under the name Liberty Legal Institute. The organization changed its name to Liberty Institute in 2009 and then, in 2016, to First Liberty Institute. Prominent cases. First Liberty Institution is one of several Christian  conservative legal organizations in the United States; others include the Alliance Defending Freedom, American Center for Law and Justice, Thomas More Society, Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, National Legal Foundation, Christian Legal Society, and Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. First Liberty Institute represented Dr. Eric Walsh in a lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Health (DPH), which hired Walsh in 2014 as a public health director for northwest Georgia, and then fired him one week later after reviewing his Seventh-Day Adventist sermons. Walsh alleged that Georgia DPH had unlawfully discriminated against him based on religion. The state  settled the case for $225,000. Among First Liberty Institute's most prominent cases are the "Candy Cane Case"; legal actions taken to stop a report on an investigation into Sarah Palin being published; and numerous legal cases filed in Texas courts concerning First Amendment and religious freedom issues. First Liberty Institute has litigated veterans memorial cross cases. Among these cases was the Bladensburg WWI Veterans Memorial case, which has been in litigation since 2014, after the American Humanist Association sued to remove the memorial claiming it was in violation of the U.S. Constitution. In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme  Court ruled in "American Legion v. American Humanist Association" upholding the cross memorial, citing that it did not violate the Establishment Clause. In previous years, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the ACLU, and the American Humanist Association have challenged other similar veterans memorial cross cases. The "Candy Cane Case" began in 2004, after a student in Plano, Texas was prohibited by school officials from distributing candy canes with a religious story attached at his school's Christmas party. In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted two school principals immunity in the case against the Plano  Independent School District. The Liberty Institute appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case in 2012, upholding the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In 2011, it filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs alleging that the department had censored prayers and the use of the words "God" or "Jesus". The Department's response was that its regulations stated that there is no censorship but that the religious preferences of the families of the deceased are respected and that at times families have complained about volunteers  and the Veterans of Foreign Wars had included religious references in services even though the families had requested that there be none. The Department's response said, "Defendants believe that it should be the family's choice and decision what to have read in accordance with their faith tradition, if any, because it would be improper for others to impose their own religious preferences on a Veteran’s family, especially during this meaningful event". The case was settled in September 2012 after mediation by former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips. First Liberty Institute represented high school football  coach Joseph A. Kennedy in a lawsuit against the Bremerton School District in the state of Washington. The dispute centers around the dismissal of the coach after a school policy conflict pertaining to his practice of a prayer after each game. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January 2019. In March 2020, a federal district court ruled against Kennedy. In January 2022, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Prominent individuals. In November 2016, Ken Klukowski, First Liberty's senior counsel and director of strategic affairs was appointed to head the issue area of "Protecting Americans ' Constitutional Rights" in the Donald Trump presidential transition team. Klukowski, later Senior Counsel to Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, was one of several Trump campaign officials subpoenaed in the Jan. 6 Select Committee investigation. Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, who served as Deputy General Counsel to First Liberty Institute, and Jeff Mateer, who previously served as general counsel, were nominated in 2017 by President Trump for District Court positions. Mateer subsequently withdrew after a May 2015 speech where he referred to transgender children as "Satan’s plan" became public. The Senate confirmed Kacsmaryk on June 19, 2019.