EAGLE FORUM OF ALABAMA GOES TO COURT TODAY TO FIGHT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE’S UNPRECEDENTED SUBPOENA AGAINST NON-PROFIT
 
DOJ HAS DEMANDED INFORMATION RELATED TO EAGLE FORUM’S CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING CHILD PROTECTION LEGISLATION
 
Non-Profit Organization Targeted and Harassed for Advocating Passage of
“Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion And Protection Act”
 

(BIRMINGHAM) – Today, Eagle Forum of Alabama (EFA) has a hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on their motion to quash the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) unprecedented subpoena of August 9, 2022. The subpoena demanded all information related to the non-profit’s legislative activities promoting the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion And Protection Act (VCAP) since 2017. The response EFA filed in court on September 29th to quash the subpoena is attached.
 
“Today, Eagle Forum of Alabama is grateful to have its day in court to fight the DOJ’s decision to proceed with the political attack on our organization. We relish the opportunity to defend the ability of all private citizen advocates and non-profits to engage in the legislative process regardless of their viewpoint,” said Kristen A. Ullman, President of Eagle Forum. “Line-by-line, EFA has poked holes in the smokescreen DOJ has presented to the court in defense of their own invasive subpoena. We refute the government’s quest to undermine our organization by saying our efforts to quash their subpoena are premature and our work as an advocacy organization is not protected by the First Amendment. Their subpoena and their defense of it also highlights how DOJ is trying make our citizen advocacy an issue in a lawsuit to which we are not a party.”
 
“Eagle Forum stands strong in this fight knowing if the DOJ can weaponize their subpoena power in this way, any American can be unduly burdened and prevented from engaging in our democratic republic form of government,” Ullman continued. “Freedom of speech, association, and petition will be at risk if the government is permitted to demand irrelevant and privileged information.”
 
Eagle Forum of Alabama took on this issue after hearing from citizens in Alabama, including parents, doctors, lawyers, and guidance counselors, about their concerns for otherwise healthy children who want to transition to the opposite sex. EFA decided to undertake the protection of these vulnerable children and have done so publicly and ardently.
 
VCAP became effective on May 8, 2022, following consideration in three successive legislative sessions including seven public hearings and passionate legislative campaigns conducted by proponent and opponent advocacy groups and individuals. Final passage was by large majorities in both Alabama chambers.
 
The constitutionality of Alabama’s VCAP law is the subject of Eknes-Tucker, et. al. v. Marshall, et. al., (renamed Boes, et.al. v. Marshall) a lawsuit filed in the US District Court on April 19, 2022. On April 29, 2022, the DOJ filed a motion to join as an intervenor-party to the lawsuit. Eagle Forum of Alabama is not a party in this legal action.
 

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Eagle Forum was founded by Phyllis Schlafly, a dynamic and charismatic leader who inspired countless women and men to participate in the process of self-government and public policy-making so that America will continue to be a land of individual liberty, with respect for the nuclear family, public and private virtue, and private enterprise. For nearly fifty years, Eagle Forum’s network of state organizations has led the charge to mobilize the grassroots to defend the founding principles of the United States.