WASHINGTON—Today the Family Research Council honored Mike Johnson, the Alliance Defense Fund attorney who argued and won the landmark case upholding the Louisiana Marriage Protection Amendment.
FRC presented Johnson the “Family, Faith, and Freedom Award” during FRC’s annual Washington Briefing. FRC President Tony Perkins made the following comments during the award presentation:
“James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, once wrote that justice will ‘always be pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.’ With clarity of conviction and purity of purpose, Mike Johnson has devoted his mastery of the legal arts to the pursuit of justice and the preservation of liberty.”
Perkins noted that, in 2004, Johnson successfully defended in court the right of the people of Louisiana to amend their state constitution to protect the institution of authentic marriage.
“In these and other contexts, Mike Johnson has championed the family and honored its Divine Maker with personal and professional distinction,” Perkins said. “For his boundless energy and selfless devotion to the law written on the human heart, Family Research Council is honored to present Mike Johnson with the Family, Faith, and Freedom Award.”
Gene Mills, executive director of Louisiana Family Forum, the statewide family policy council that led the successful efforts to add the Marriage Protection Amendment to the state’s constitution, said Johnson’s work was integral to the amendment’s eventual success.
“We are so proud of the excellent and diligent efforts of Mike Johnson,” said Mills. “His handling of our Louisiana Marriage Amendment litigation was the deciding factor in its favorable outcome. I can think of no one who is a more worthy recipient for this award than Mike.”
ADF is America’s largest legal alliance defending religious liberty through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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