Remember the blatant religious discrimination from the Washington Elementary School District (WESD) last month in which the board unanimously voted to end an 11-year working relationship with Arizona Christian University (ACU) solely based on the school’s religious beliefs? Well, that didn’t last long. ACU will be partnering again with WESD at least for another five years as part of an agreement between WESD and ACU.

This settles a lawsuit ACU brought against the school board shortly after board members voted to stop using ACU student teachers because their Christian beliefs did not align with the board’s pro-LGBTQ agenda. The board member out front on the issue, Tamillia Valenzuela, wore cat ears at the meeting and read from the Christian university’s website with disdain.

Despite the fact there had been no complaints against the student teachers, the board voted to end the relationship. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) quickly filed a discrimination lawsuit on behalf of ACU, and WESD capitulated yesterday. Instead of simply finalizing the last year of a 5-year contract, the settlement extends the working relationship an additional five years. It also ensures WESD pays ACU’s $25,000 attorney fee. ADF calls the settlement a “complete vindication.”

ACU President and former President of CAP, Len Munsil, thanked everyone for their prayers and made this statement, “This is a complete vindication of the rights of our students to be able to participate as student teachers in a public school district without fear of religious discrimination. We obtained everything we wanted in this new agreement, without any sacrifice or compromise to our beliefs and our university’s religious purpose. We look forward to a continued beneficial partnership that serves ACU student-teachers and the students, faculty, and staff of the WESD.”

ACU uses the tagline “Courageously Christian” as a reminder of the required courage to stand for Christ and biblical truth in an increasingly hostile environment.

We join ACU and other Christians in thanking God for a victory that sends a clear and encouraging message.

An Effort to Intimidate, Undermine, Delegitimize

It was the evening of May 2, 2022, when a leaked draft opinion of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization hit the news; Roe would be overturned.

The Left was not having it. After years of using partisan judges and justices to effectively legislate their ideology from the bench, activists sought to hold onto that privilege. First, by possibly leaking the Dobbs draft in an effort to intimidate justices into changing the final opinion. Justice Samuel Alito, in a rare interview with the Wall Street Journal indicated that was his belief, “It was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft … from becoming the decision of the court. And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside — as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.”

Radical activists published the addresses of conservative justices and protested in front of their homes, a clear act of intimidation aimed at members of an unelected body designed to be blind and nonpolitical. The Biden Justice Department did little to stop the illegal protests but did arrest one man for attempted murder after he showed up at Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with weapons and zip ties. Emboldened, extremist groups vandalized more than 80 pro-life pregnancy resource centers and over 150 Catholic churches.

News reports raised suspicion that it was one of the conservative justices who leaked the opinion, to which Alito responded, “That’s infuriating to me … Look, this made us targets of assassination. Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It’s quite implausible.”

When all the protesting and pro-abortion laden news reports didn’t work and Dobbs overturned Roe on June 24, the Left was forced to change tactics, and the digging began. Within the year, several strategical news reports raised ethical suspicions about Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch resulting in calls for Thomas’ removal.

The Senate Judiciary Committee even held a “Supreme Court Ethics Reform” hearing Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the leak, targeting Thomas specifically. But the meeting backfired when senators were reminded of questionable ethical issues about a number of liberal justices, including the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Read more on that here.

In January, investigators reported they could not find the leaker responsible “by a preponderance of the evidence.” This leaves serious questions unanswered, the credibility of the highest Court in jeopardy, and the rule of law vulnerable. The Left has shown it will take advantage of any opportunity to further its agenda as well as gain and retain power. Activists do not take no for an answer but will burn down the American system to get their way.

One National Review article warned, “The intended play here: If the Court cannot be intimidated, it must be undermined, expanded, or delegitimized. The Dobbs leak was but the first volley in a much longer, ongoing war against the third branch of government.”

Arizona Abortion Law Update

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes cherry picks what her office will defend in court and what it will ignore. It’s not the law that dictates justice, it’s politics. And Mayes’ top priority is ensuring abortion is as accessible as possible, regardless of the lives lost and the risks to women.

Mayes joined other pro-abortion attorneys general in an amicus brief to the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, urging it to allow the continued sale of the dangerous abortion pill, even though the FDA didn’t follow its own safety protocols when it approved the drug, and then arbitrarily dropped the safety precautions it initially implemented. Read more here.

Then, Tuesday, she told the Arizona Supreme Court that because she will not defend the pre-Roe law limiting abortion to cases where the mother’s life is at risk, there is no one with legal standing to defend the law. She claims the pro-life law cannot be further litigated and is effectively dead. But it’s not as simple as Mayes claims. Read more on that here.

ICYMI

• Read here about a new study gauging the effects of abortion on men. Results show 71% of men who experienced abortion in their lives suffered adverse effects.
• Read here about how public policy and culture would change if children were really put first.
• Read here about five alternatives to “woke” companies.
• Read here how parents are taking back control of their children’s education.

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