Welcome to the TMS Weekly Dispatch for July 7, 2025—with the latest news and updates from the front line, to keep you in-the-know on all things Thomas More Society.  

Here’s a look back at the past week:

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY FILES FRIEND-OF-THE-COURT BRIEF FOR BISHOP BARRON URGING COURT TO STOP LAW TARGETING THE SEAL OF CONFESSION:  Representing Bishop Robert Barron, Bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and Founder of the international media organization Word on Fire, TMS attorneys filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of a legal challenge to Washington State’s SB 5375, a discriminatory law that forces Catholic priests to violate the seal of Confession, in violation of Church law and the First Amendment.  

Our July 4 court filing argues that Washington’s law forcing priests to violate the seal of Confession unconstitutionally strikes at the heart of free exercise of religion as protected under the First Amendment.  

From the brief filed on behalf Bishop Barron:  

“Respect in the law for the confessional seal is of a piece with James Madison’s timeless recognition that “man’s ‘duty towards the Creator... is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.’  

Our Founders understood that man and woman’s prior duty to God is, as a general rule, not in conflict with the good of society—but constitutive of it. Hence, the First Amendment’s promise of religious neutrality against the imposition of special disabilities by the State—particularly those premised on a disparaging view of the burdened religious practice. SB 5375’s text and context squarely violate these principles.”

“All Americans should stand against this egregious violation of the First Amendment,” Bishop Barron reacted in a post on X after the brief’s filing.

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY CONDEMNS WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT'S "JUDICIAL POWER GRAB": Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in Kaul v. Urmanski, invalidating a state law from 1849 that provided the preborn legal protection against abortion. “This decision is nothing short of a judicial power grab,” observed Andrew Bath, TMS Executive VP and General Counsel.

Bath continued:

“There is no single statute that repealed the 1849 law. Instead, the Court stitched together a patchwork of later laws and declared that together they constitute an implied repeal. That’s not statutory interpretation; it’s legislating from the bench—an egregious violation of our constitutional system and separation of powers.”  

Read our full reaction, here.  

The fight to protect preborn Wisconsinites is far from over, and TMS pledges to continue standing with lawmakers, families, and advocates who are committed to restoring legal protections for the preborn in the law.

TMS CELEBRATES SCOTUS DECISION PROTECTING PARENTS' RIGHTS: On June 27, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6-3 in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case brought by a the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty on behalf of a group of Maryland parents challenging a local school board’s attempt to force their children to read and discuss inappropriate books about sexuality.  

For a coalition of concerned parental rights advocacy organizations, TMS Senior Counsel Matt Heffron filed a key friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Maryland parents, arguing that Mahmoud was a simple opt-out case as opposed to a broad attempt to change school curriculum—asking the Court to side with the parents and protect the right of parents to direct their children's upbringing and education.

Heffron reacted to the decision, saying:  

“In standing with parents, the Court has reinforced the vital role of families in shaping the moral and spiritual foundations of the next generation and has protected children from ideological indoctrination in our public schools...”

You can read Matt’s full reaction to the Court’s decision here.