A pro-life law firm says it may appeal a decision by a federal judge dismissing a lawsuit filed against the executive order President Barack Obama issued forcing Americans to pay for embryonic stem cell research.
The Alliance Defense Fund, responding to today’s ruling by Judge Lamberth saying he must follow the decision of a Federal appeals court that wanted the case thrown out, said its attorneys will join Samuel B. Casey of the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project and pro-life attorney Tom Hungar to consider filing the appeal. The pro-life legal team members are weighing all of their options for appeal in light of a federal judge’s ruling that the embryonic funding can continue despite it violating a 1996 law prohibiting the funding of research destroying human embryos.
“Americans should not be forced to pay for experiments that destroy human life, have produced no real-world treatments, and violate federal law,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden.
He continued: “The district court’s injunction simply enforced that law, which makes sure Americans don’t pay any more precious taxpayer dollars for needless research made irrelevant by adult stem cell and other research. The law is clear, and we intend to review all of our options for appeal of this decision. In these tough economic times, it makes no sense for the federal government to use taxpayer money for this illegal and unethical purpose.”
Judge Lambeth explained that he believes his hands have been tied by an appellate court decision that reversed his August 2010 order to stop the funding in light of a federal law that prohibits it.
“While it may be true that by following the Court of Appeals’ conclusion as to the ambiguity of ‘research,’ this Court has become a grudging partner in a bout of ‘linguistic jujitsu…,’ such is life for an antepenultimate court,” the judge wrote. “Therefore the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion that the term ‘research’ in the Dickey-Wicker Amendment is ambiguous binds this Court.”
Hungar argued the case, Sherley v. Sebelius, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in December of last year with regard to the original injunction. Hungar argued the case, Sherley v. Sebelius, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in December of last year with regard to the original injunction.
