This afternoon at 3:30 at the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, oral arguments will take place in the Inauguration Prayer case.  Dr. Michael Newdow has brought a challenge against President Bush in order to stop ministers from giving an invocation and benediction at the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony which will take place on Thursday, January 20^th.  All briefs in the case were filed on Friday.  Senior Counsel Jim Henderson from our Washington, DC office will be in court on Thursday, and we will have frequent updates on our website starting this evening.  We anticipate a very quick decision in the case.  Dr. Newdow has asked for a preliminary injunction to stop the prayer activity.  I anticipate the decision could be rendered as early as this evening.  We have also been informed that Dr. Newdow plans on appealing the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and, possibly, even to the Supreme Court of the United States. Our senior research teams at the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) are ready to file any necessary legal briefs in this case.

Our brief in the case is posted on www.aclj.org, and I encourage you to take a look at this document which shows the history of prayer at Inaugural ceremonies.  Our website also contains a new feature referred to as our Washington Report.  Here you can get information on the current legislative initiatives that the ACLJ is involved in.  We play a unique role in Washington in that we not only draft legislation that is introduced by members of the House and Senate, but we also defend it in court.  The range of issues we are currently involved in include the churches’ Free Speech Protection Act, which has been introduced by Congressman Walter Jones.  We are involved in a number of pro-life measures as well, which are developing quickly at this point.

I am happy to announce that starting next week, we are going to expand our Office of Governmental Affairs.  Colby May, the Director of our Office of Governmental Affairs in Washington, DC, deals with legislative and agency matters covering a number of issues that impact our freedoms, our faith, and our families.  We are pleased to announce that Drew Ryun will be joining our Governmental Affairs staff effective next week.  Drew most recently served as the Coalition’s Director for the Republican National Committee.  He will be responsible for developing our congressional contacts as well as working with coalitions in Washington, DC and throughout the country.  In his capacity, Drew will serve as our Director of Coalitions and Government Liaison. 

Additional hires in our legal staff will be announced over the next several days.  We will keep you posted with frequent updates regarding new staff additions to our team here at the American Center for Law and Justice.