Contact: Tom Ciesielka
Yesterday, Thomas More Society attorneys confirmed that Marathon County library officials have agreed to rescind their decision to cancel a showing of the pro-life documentary "BloodMoney" by the Wausau "40 Days for Life" group in one of the library's public meeting rooms. Scott Corbett, Marathon County Corporation Counsel, said in a letter to the Thomas More Society, "The library will honor its original commitment." Thomas More Society's lawsuit, filed yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin, federal court made clear that the library was censoring and suppressing the constitutionally-protected free speech of Wausau 40 Days for Life.
"We are pleased that our client's right to free speech was vindicated. However, it's disappointing that a federal lawsuit was necessary to prevent a public library from engaging in censorship," said Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society. "In the end, the library followed its stated policy that meeting rooms are to be allocated without regard to the beliefs of those using them."
Letter from the Marathon County Corporation Counsel is availablehere.
