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The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization, founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead. based in Charlottesville, Virginia, it provides free legal services in constitutional and human rights lawsuits. Its focus is on religious and free speech cases, and also on educating the public on its views.

Often called conservative,123 with roots in the millenarian Christian right,4 the Rutherford Institute rose to national prominence helping Paula Jones to sue U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1997.56 However it has also joined in free speech cases with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff deemed it a "civil liberties organization".7

History

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In the wake of his 1981 book The Second American Revolution, which argued for political and judicial activism on the part of conservative Christians, John W. Whitehead founded The Rutherford Institute in the basement of his home. He named the institute after Samuel Rutherford, a 17th century Scottish theologian who argued, in a 1644 pamphlet cleverly titled Lex, Rex, that kings must be subordinate to the law, because the rule of kings is derived from men, whereas the rule of law is derived from God. Rutherford's arguments about the authority of kings were quite influential in the development of the concept of the "social contract" by later philosophers such as John Locke and Rousseau. Samuel Rutherford was also known for being an opponent of Roger Williams' experiment in religious liberty in Rhode Island. In a polemic against Williams, Rutherford said, "...all the Apostles and Apsotolike Church had but one Religion, toleration of many Religions not being a part of the New Testament liberty...."8

Early members of the Rutherford Institute's board of directors included California millionaire Howard Ahmanson, Jr,, as well as prominent fundamentalist activists such as Francis Schaeffer and R.J. Rushdoony of the Chalcedon Foundation, a West Coast Christian think tank in which the Christian Reconstructionist Movement was born in the 1960s. The early activities of the Rutherford Institute reflected this, and tended to focus on cases involving public primary and secondary education. It was especially active and often successful in trying to stop condom distribution in public schools, as well as sex education, AIDS prevention programs, and programs that taught certain types of tolerance.

Within a few years, though, Whitehead had begun to move away from the Christian Reconstructionist Movement, disassociating himself from some organizations, such as the Coalition on Revival, and broadening the scope of the Rutherford Institute's interests.

The Rutherford Institute first became widely known to the public at large with the Paula Jones lawsuit against Bill Clinton, which the Institute backed, with Whitehead acting as co-counsel. In recent years, however, the Rutherford Institute has continued to move towards being a mainstream constitutional legal advocacy organization, often seeming to disagree with the likes of the ACLU on little more than the precise boundaries of the Establishment Clause. In addition to the aforementioned brief in the José Padilla case, the Institute has taken a strong stand in opposition to the Patriot Act, argued that Yaser Hamdi deserved due process, opposed student drug testing, and represented Lt. Col Martha McSally in her suit challenging the military policy that required servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the body-covering abaya when traveling in the country. Perhaps most surprisingly, to those who are primarily familiar with the early years of the Institute, editorials on its web site were generally in favor of the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas.

References

  1. ^ Reynolds, Josh (2007-04-16). "Conservatives to Bush: Fire Gonzales", Time, AP. 
  2. ^ "Clinton's contempt citation not a surprise to many", CNN (1999-04-13). 
  3. ^ McLeary, Paul (2004-12-24). "It's Christmas, and the Echo Chamber Is in Full Chorus", Columbia Journalism Review. 
  4. ^ Clark, Frederick (March/June 1994). "Christian Reconstructionism: Theocratic Dominionism Gains Influence". The Public Eye. Political Research Associates.
  5. ^ Conason, Joe (1997-10-19). "Paula's New Pals: The Loony Right", The New York Observer. 
  6. ^ Barnes, Lindsay (2008-01-24). "Suing the president: Ten years later, John Whitehead looks back at Jones v. Clinton", The Hook. 
  7. ^ Hentoff, Nat (2006-09-12). "Stoning Women to Death", The Village Voice. 
  8. ^ Samuel Rutherford Refutes Roger Williams Regarding Toleration, Sectarianism and Peace, Still Waters Revival Books.

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