June 20, 2005

Office of the President

Steven W. Fitschen

Your support of the National Legal Foundation is big enough news that TIME Magazine wrote about it!

Dear Friend of Freedom,

As I wrote in my last letter, the work of the National Legal Foundation—the work that you make possible—has been recognized in a cover story in TIME Magazine.

Earlier this year, TIME dedicated its cover to “The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.” One of the twenty-five people selected was David Barton. David is the President of WallBuilders, a ministry that you have probably heard of.

What you might not know is that David is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Legal Foundation. As you might imagine, we work very closely with David on numerous projects . . . including one that TIME Magazine mentioned in the article.

TIME said that one of the things that makes David so influential is his “relentless stream of . . . court amicus briefs.”

I have written to you and all our friends many times, telling you about various amicus (also called “friend of the court”) briefs that we have worked on. Many of those briefs — although certainly not all of them — were filed for David. So TIME is talking about amicus briefs you made possible!

What a perfect match. The National Legal Foundation’s expertise and David’s reputation really get the courts’ attention . . . and you have helped fund these projects.

I just had to take this opportunity to let you know that your financial support, as well as your prayer support, are making a difference in this country . . . and being noticed by the media!

Now, of course, that is not why we do what we do. And that is not why you give and pray. However, when you and I step up to the plate and engage the battle, people can’t help but notice.

And, of course, filing amicus briefs is not all we do. Even though I told you in my last letter that I would let you know about TIME’s recognition of our amicus briefs, I am also thrilled to tell you that it recognized our litigation work as well!

After all, both aspects of our work are critically important. Sometimes you can accomplish something in an amicus brief that you cannot accomplish with your own lawsuit. But sometimes it is the other way around — you need to bring the lawsuit yourself to get the desired result.

Therefore, it was very gratifying to see the TIME article talk about our Supreme Court victory in Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, the Bible Club case.

Unfortunately, however, TIME ascribed this victory to the wrong organization. In talking about the lawyer who did the oral argument for us in the case, TIME stated that the victory was won by the firm where he now works, instead of acknowledging the National Legal Foundation’s role. That was a bit disappointing, but as I mentioned a moment ago, we don’t do what we do to get credit. We do what we do to make a difference in this country.

As long as the work of the ministry is making a difference in this great country — no matter who gets credit — we are happy.

And thanks to you that is exactly what is happening!

Think about it . . . in an article mentioning only 25 people, two different aspects of our work were recognized. Both our amicus briefs and our lawsuits were acknowledged as making a tremendous difference in America.

And that is work that you have funded with your generous gifts and work that you have undergirded with your faithful prayers.

As I said, I just had to take this opportunity to let you know what a profound impact you are having in this country through your support of the National Legal Foundation.

I trust that I can count on your support once again. Next time I will catch you up on some of the current cases that we are involved in, but this time I wanted to say a great big THANK YOU!

Thanks for being there,

Steven W. Fitschen
President

P.S. We have four amicus briefs under way right now . . . including two that will be filed at the United States Supreme Court. As always, our work is free to our clients. We must hear from you today to keep this influential work going. Thanks in advance!

	Post Office Box 64427, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 23467-4427 Phone (757) 463.6133; Fax (757) 463.6055; E-mail nlf@nlf.net
*© 2006 by the National Legal Foundation & Minuteman Institute*