\n\tI first met Lee as a young lawyer in Washington, D.C. I was the director of the Council on Religious Freedom, which he had helped found and was a board
\n\tmember of. He provided much encouragement and support for a younger lawyer. He was unselfish with his time, and gave me opportunity to assist in
\n\tlitigation, including writing briefs. It was Lee who gave me the opportunity to write my first Supreme Court briefs. He was always gentlemanly and kind in
\n\this critiques and comments.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis refined quality was noticed and commented on by the women plaintiffs in the Mitchell v. Helms case, his second Supreme Court case, and the one that I
\n\thad the privilege to work with him on. They said he reminded them of a classic, courtly, Southern gentleman. Thinking of this case and Lee always reminds
\n\tme of the movie A Man for All Seasons, about the famous Catholic lawyer and martyr Sir Thomas More.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Helms case was about state aid to some Catholic schools, but it was not an anti-Catholic case, as the plaintiffs themselves were Catholic. They were
\n\tunhappy that the Catholic schools were taking down crucifixes and modifying their religious approach to get the government funding.<\/p>\n
\n\tThese feisty women were fans of the movie A Man for all Seasons, in which St. Thomas More stands up against the divorce and remarriage of Henry VIII. We
\n\twould often quote lines from that movie to each other as we worked on the case. Two or three have especially stuck with me in relation to Lee. He would
\n\tdefend anyone whose religious freedom was being challenged, whether it be an Adventist, a Catholic, a Baptist, or a Scientologist.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis commitment to principle of the law being applied to all was captured by the famous lines in the movie that we would quote to each other as we worked
\n\ton the Mitchell case. It is More in dialogue with his son William Roper, who wants to make a legal shortcut to catch bad men. More says even the devil is
\n\tprotected by law. Roper responds:<\/p>\n
\n\tWilliam Roper<\/em><\/strong> \n\tSir Thomas More:<\/em><\/strong> \n\tWilliam Roper:<\/em><\/strong> \n\tSir Thomas More:<\/em><\/strong> \n\tReligious liberty for Lee was not a selfish principle, just about self-preservation and the seventh-day Sabbath, but a principle to be shared and protected \n\tLee was also unafraid to go up against the majority. He made a career of representing the little guy, whether a firefighter, police officer, store clerk, \n\tAnother line we liked to quote, about standing for conscience and the individual, not just going along to get along, was this one, when Thomas More\u2019s \n\t Duke of Norfolk:<\/em><\/strong> \n\t Sir Thomas More:<\/em><\/strong> \n\tLee was faithful to his clients and their causes, because he was in it to vindicate higher principles, not just, or even primarily, to make money. It was \n\tHe was faithful not just to his legal calling, but to a higher calling that he had obviously been given from above. It is this that makes me feel \n\t Sir Thomas More<\/em><\/strong> \n\tWe might paraphrase this for Lee: I die the law\u2019s good servant, but God\u2019s first.<\/p>\n \n\tGood night, Lee. It was a blessing and pleasure to know you and work with you. One day the Senior Partner will awake you, and then we can compare case I first met Lee as a young lawyer in Washington, D.C. I was the director of the Council on Religious Freedom, which he had helped found and was a board member of. He provided much encouragement and support for a younger lawyer. He was unselfish with his time, and gave me opportunity to assist in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[306],"tags":[138],"class_list":["post-6310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-may-june-2015","tag-may-june-2015"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t:<\/em>
\n\tSo, now you give the devil the benefit of law! <\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil? <\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t Yes, I\u2019d cut down every law in England to do that! <\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t
\n\t\tOh? And when the last law was down, and the devil turned \u2019round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted
\n\t\tthick with laws, from coast to coast, Man\u2019s laws, not God\u2019s! And if you cut them down, and you\u2019re just the man to do it, do you really think you could
\n\t\tstand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I\u2019d give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety\u2019s sake!
\n\t<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tfor all, and his life was a full testimony to that in the wide variety of faith groups he protected and defended.<\/p>\n
\n\tor truck driver, against the bigs, whether it be corporations or major government agencies, state or federal, it didn\u2019t matter. He did not fear, facing the
\n\tgiants, as it were.<\/p>\n
\n\tfriend asks him just to go along with the majority, and support the marriage, for fellowship\u2019s sake:<\/p>\n
\n\t
\n\t\tOh, confound all this. I\u2019m not a scholar, I don\u2019t know whether the marriage was lawful or not, but, . . .Thomas, look at these names! Why can\u2019t you do
\n\t\tas I did and come with us, for fellowship!
\n\t<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t
\n\t\tAnd when we die, and you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?
\n\t<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tnot always easy making a living taking almost only religious liberty cases, but Lee did it, one of the only lawyers I know to do so.<\/p>\n
\n\tappropriate these lines from Thomas More\u2019s final words.<\/p>\n
\n\t
\n\t\t[talking to the witnesses for his execution]: I am commanded by the king to be brief, and since I am the king\u2019s obedient subject, brief I will be. I
\n\t\tdie His Majesty\u2019s good servant but God\u2019s first.
\n\t<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tnotes in the great law library upstairs. Until then, rest in peace, my friend, rest in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"