Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 06/08/2006 12:12:58 AM PDT by freepatriot32
CHICAGO, June 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- After exactly twenty years the NOW v. Scheidler RICO case is finally history. On Thursday, June 8, 2006, just one day short of the twentieth anniversary of the filing of the lawsuit, Judge David Coar will enter judgment for the defendants, Joseph M. Scheidler, Timothy Murphy and Andrew Scholberg and the Pro-Life Action League, negating all charges against them.
"Judge Coar's action tomorrow will be a great weight off of me," said Joseph Scheidler, National Director of the Pro-Life Action League. "It has taken all this time to vindicate the pro-life movement and declare that our peaceful protests are not criminal acts."
The National Organization for Women sued Joseph Scheidler under anti-trust laws on June 9, 1986. The suit was expanded to a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) charge in 1991. After a seven-week trial in 1998 a jury found the defendants guilty. Judge David Coar issued a nationwide injunction against pro-life activists and assessed a triple judgment against the Scheidler defendants in the amount of $257,780. A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court finding, and Scheidler appealed to the Supreme Court.
On February 26, 2003 the United States Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Scheidler's favor. But NOW's attorneys claimed the Supreme Court had overlooked four predicate acts that could maintain the nationwide injunction issued by Judge Coar in 1999. The Appellate Court sided with NOW. So Scheidler had to appeal once again to the Supreme Court. On February 28, 2006 the U. S. Supreme Court once again reversed the case, ruling unanimously in Scheidler's favor. NOW v. Scheidler is the first case in U. S. history to be heard by the Supreme Court three times.
"Tomorrow Judge Coar will finally do what the Supreme Court ordered him to do," said Scheidler. "The injunction will be vacated, the judgment reversed and the bond released. Now we can get on with our work -- saving the lives of unborn babies by stopping abortion."
"It's also a great relief to get my house back," said Scheidler. The Scheidlers had had to put their home up for the bond while they appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Judge Coar will also release the house from bondage on Thursday.
A complete case summary of NOW v. Scheidler is available at
Talk about requiring a stretch of imagination.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Indeed...pouring their tears into the river.
Interesting. I remember when this case was filed...
And I'm sure there will be lots of media coverage of this momentous event!
Now WOW, NOW COWS!
The real hero's Philadelphia and Scheidler.
no stop please my sides are hurting. That was a good one. Didnt I see you perform on stage at the south bend funnybone comedy club a couple of months ago?
Do the feminists now have to pay the bills and damages for this 20-year harrassment or have they actually succeeded, regardless of outcome?
Joe Scheidler is one of the truly greatest blokes it has ever been my honour to meet.
God bless him and his work!!!
bttt
Zot, honey.
I don't normally quote myself in a reply but since i am so psychic on this one i going to this one time i am also goingot quit my job and travel with a carnival making money with my psychic gifts read more below
Pro-Life Activist's House Released -- But RICO Case Drags On CHICAGO, June 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- "I'm not surprised that NOW found a way to keep control of this case," said Joseph M. Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League. "In the twenty years we've been fighting NOW v. Scheidler, it has been our experience that NOW's attorneys are masters of the art of deception and misrepresentation."
Scheidler went to Federal Court Thursday morning expecting to watch Judge David Coar sign a Judgment in his favor as directed by the United States Supreme Court in their Opinion handed down on February 28. But once again NOW's attorney Fay Clayton pulled off another delay. Claiming that she had not had time to consider the simple Judgment that would put an end to the twenty-year-old lawsuit, Clayton said she had objections to some of the elements of the Judgment. She said she wanted to make sure the Settlement Injunction NOW had secured against Randall Terry prior to the seven-week trial in 1998 would continue in effect in spite of the Supreme Court's finding that there had never been a RICO violation.
Although Judge Coar said he was ready to sign the Judgment drafted by Tom Brejcha, Scheidler's attorney, and although Brejcha urged him to do so, Coar bowed to Clayton's wishes and continued the case for two weeks until June 22.
Clayton could find no plausible reason to object to releasing the remainder of the bond, which consisted of the Scheidler home. Judge Coar signed the release document, returning ownership and control of the north side Chicago home to the Scheidlers.
"So the twenty-year-old case slides into its twenty- first year," said Scheidler, observing that June 9 marks the twentieth anniversary of the original filing of the NOW v. Scheidler case. "In other words," Scheidler said, "that means I am still a convicted federal racketeer."
A complete case summary of NOW v. Scheidler is available at http://prolifeaction.org/nvs.
Christian NewswireTo: National Desk, Legal Desk Contact: Joseph M. Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League,
773-777-2900,
312-965-1030 cell
The anti-war protesters are happy about this outcome, I noted, but that's okay by me...the application of RICO to this is ridiculous.
Many times in real estate complaints, the plantiffs/defendants are dead by the time the case is resolved.
People complain about health care in this country, but if doctors did what the legal profession has done to our courts, most patients would be dead before a diagnosis were returned. (Which I think also indicates that it's not the doctors who are hurting health care now!)
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