The Thomas More Society is a conservative Roman Catholic public-interest law firm based in Chicago. The group has been engaged in many "culture war" issues, promoting its anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage beliefs through litigation. The society filed cases as part of Donald Trump's failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Trump was defeated. The society is formally recognized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as a National Catholic Association, a type of public association of the faithful under the canon law of the Catholic Church.
History and litigation
Founded by Tom Brejcha in 1997, the group won two U.S. Supreme Court victories against the National Organization for Women in Scheidler v. National Organization for Women in 2003 and 2006. Brejcha is the president and chief counsel of the group. The Thomas More Society has been engaged in many "culture war" issues, promoting its anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage beliefs through litigation. It is part of a broader set of Christian conservative legal organizations (CCLOs), which include Alliance Defending Freedom, American Center for Law and Justice, First Liberty Institute, Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, National Legal Foundation, Christian Legal Society, and Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Reproduction issues
In partnership with the CatholicVote Legal Defense Fund, the Thomas More Society has challenged the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's mandate requiring companies' health insurance plans to cover contraceptives and sterilization.
In 2015, the Thomas More Society filed amicus briefs in the civil case of actress Sofia Vergara, who was sued by her ex-boyfriend in a frozen embryo case; the society, along with other anti-abortion groups, sought to have the courts treat the embryo as children (under a "best interests of the child" standard) rather than as marital property. The case tied into a broader "personhood" debate that had emerged in the politics of abortion.
In 2016, the Thomas More Society represented anti-abortion activist David Daleiden, of California, pro bono.
In 2018, the Executive Council of Iowa, which included Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, hired the Thomas More Society to defend Iowa in a legal challenge against Iowa's recently passed abortion law, the strictest in the nation. The group stepped in to represent the state after Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat, declined to defend the law's constitutionality. The group represented the state without a fee. A state court blocked the Iowa law from going into effect.
In 2023 the Thomas More Society joined in representing a Texas man in a suit against his ex-wife's associates. The plaintiff alleges they aided the ex-wife in obtaining the drugs for medical abortion. Asserting that assisting a self-managed abortion is murder, the suit was brought pursuant to wrongful death statutes rather than the Texas Heartbeat Act ("S.B. 8"), the anti-abortion vigilante act. Legal scholar Melissa Murray viewed the suit as an attempt to get the Texas courts to recognize fetal personhood. Lawyers for the plaintiff said the suit would add the manufacturer of the abortion drugs once it is identified.
LGBT issues
In 2013, the Thomas More Society intervened on behalf of five Illinois county clerks who opposed same-sex marriage and sought to block its legalization in Illinois.
The group represented a former Missouri State University student who claimed that he was expelled from the university's master's degree in counseling program for refusing to counsel same-sex couples. The university settled in 2017 with the ex-student for $25,000.
Divorce
In 2020, the society filed an amicus brief in the Nebraska Supreme Court in the case of Dycus v. Dycus, urging the court to strike down Nebraska's no-fault divorce law. The court upheld the law.
Challenges to COVID-19 public health measures
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thomas More Society filed a number of lawsuits on behalf of various parties to stop or weaken public health measures implemented to stop the spread of the virus. They contended that capacity limits, social distancing rules, face covering requirements, and vaccine mandates violates the religious liberties of churches and individuals. The group filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of a Wisconsin anti-abortion group which claimed that the COVID-19 restriction on public gatherings unlawfully blocked the group from gathering.