Focus on the Family Citizen April 2009 : Page 9
Q&A ment of Justice, PHE was caught up in Project Post Porn, run by our office and U.S. attorneys around the coun- try, and investigated by the Postal In- spection Service. PHE is a stand-alone company that distributes hard-core porn films under the name Adam and Eve. Q. If Ogden spent a good part of his career fighting the law, what can we expect him to do as a law-enforce- ment officer? A. He will use his office of legal coun- sel, which interprets the law, to change the law. And I would guess, under his direction, you’ll see a law on same-sex benefits throughout the government and maybe even in the private sector. Q: In his Senate testimony, Ogden said he didn’t necessarily agree with his clients’ views, and even if he did, it’s his job to enforce the law as it is. Shouldn’t we believe him? in ogden’s words the information below was gathered by Fidelis, a Chicago-based group of political, legal, research and educational organizations. Teens and abortion In Hartigan v. Zbaraz (1987), Ogden co-authored a brief for the Ameri- can Psychological Association ar- guing that parental notification was an unconstitutional burden on 14-year-old adolescent girls seeking an abortion: “There is no question that the right to secure an abortion is fun- damental.” (p. 10). “By any objective standard, therefore, the decision to abort is one that a reasonable person, in- cluding a reasonable adolescent, could make.” (p. 11). Homosexuality In Bowers v. Hartwick (1986), Ogden co- authored an amicus brief on behalf of the American Psycho- logical Association and Ameri- can Public Health Association April 2009 supporting the defendants: Defended “safe sex” education that teaches about oral and anal sex. (p. 26-27). “[H]omosexuality is simply one normal variant of sexual identity.” (p. 2). Library porn In United States v. American Library Association, Ogden served as counsel of record for an amicus brief filed on behalf of 15 library directors in opposing the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA): “Imposition of mandatory filter- ing on public libraries impairs the ability of librarians to fulfill the pur- pose of public libraries—namely, assisting library patrons in their quest for information…” (p. 3). Child porn Ogden argued in federal court that requiring pro- ducers of pornographic materials to verify that actors were at least 18 years old would “burden too heavily and infringe too deeply on the right to produce First Amend- ment protected material.” Ogden represented Playboy Enterprises, among others, seek- ing an order forcing the Library of Congress to use taxpayer funds to print Playboy articles in Braille against the express wishes of Congress. Ogden said the de- cision American Council for the Blind v. Boorstin (1986) was im- portant in “turning the tide in the censorship battle” and was part of a “judicial reaction to the censorial mood in the govern- ment and a belief that it needs to be checked.” l Ron AiRA, Ron AiRA PhotogRAPhy 9 KEEPING WATCH Former federal prose- cutor Patrick A. trueman is senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. A: In some of the cases he’s been prominently involved in, he prob- ably didn’t get paid. It might have been pro bono, and I’m disappointed that senators on the Judiciary Com- mittee didn’t dig this out. I haven’t gotten paid for every case. No one who is opposed to porn hires him. He has a history of in- volvement in homosexual cases, but he hasn’t filed a brief for any- one on the other side. On abor- tion litigation, he hasn’t been sought out by Americans United for Life. Q. What does the Odgen pick say about President Obama? A. He is appointing people to run the Department of Justice, to interpret the laws of our nation, to carry out the laws of our na- tion, who will fight fiercely against the pro-family movement. l
Publication List
