DOJ continues to lose FACE
1/15, 7p: The poll is closed. 91% of you think the DOJ is trying to intimidate pro-lifers.
1/14, 3:08: (See poll at bottom of post.)
Last week President Obama’s Department of Justice lost yet another Freedom of Access to Clinics case when it settled with pro-lifer David Hamilton.
More on Attorney General Eric Holder’s harassment of Hamilton below.
But for those keeping count, here is the losing list of FACE cases brought forth by the Obama DOJ so far (including one not even listed on the DOJ site, US v. Parente):
As for Hamilton, police arrested him in January 2010 after a deathscort screamed when he touched her at EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
Hamilton was attempting to speak with a pregnant mother who was entering EMW for an abortion.
Two deathscorts had locked one arm each behind her and then illegally blockaded the entire sidewalk with their outstretched other arms to keep David from getting past to offer the mom literature.
David moved the arm of one deathscort down to pass her, and she yelled, as they always do, and the police cuffed him, even though the deathscort filed no complaint.
Police later dropped charges – because there were none – but that didn’t stop Holder from attempting to prosecute Hamilton under FACE almost a year later.
The DOJ wanted a $15,000 penalty and got $0. It wanted an injunction to keep David away from EMW and got nada. It wanted $5,000 in damages and got $2,500.
I spoke with David last week. He only settled for damages because the decision would have otherwise been in the hands of a jury.
Thanks to Dana Cody, pictured left, and the team at Life Legal Defense Foundation, as well as attorney Vince Heuser, for their help with this case and many other FACE cases.
To date none of Holder’s FACE charges have stuck. One judge has even accused the DOJ of harassment.
Recall the Obama DOJ bragged in 2011 it was “taking a more aggressive approach” against pro-lifers, going so far as to “meet[ ] with abortion-rights groups and medical providers all over the country,” according to NPR.
Also recall Holder’s wife Sharon, an ob/gyn, has a financial stake in the abortion business. She owns a building in Georgia that houses an abortion clinic.

Has there ever been another administration with such misplaced priorities?
I’d say that invading Iraq on bogus grounds ranks right near the top of misplaced priorities.
The FACE Act (which was initiated by abortion rights activists with vested political interest & isn’t applied to any other type of clinic in health care) is starting to sound more like a misguided money-making scheme for the government supported by special interest groups rather than a constitutional & just act.
Jill,
Thanks for this!
One more thing worth mentioning is that the “deathscort” herself said she was not injured. In her deposition, she said that somebody bumped into her. She turned around & I was the only person there. She didn’t think anything of it, but later she had a bruise.
To the DOJ, that warrants $2500.
-David