June 8th Rally for Religious Freedom

We are very excited to announce our next Rally for Religious Freedom on June 8th from 12-3pm. We will be at the Fritz G Lanham Federal Building on 819 Taylor Street, downtown Fort Worth. It should be noted that the Rally will be held on the other side of the building in the Throckmorton Street Courtyard.


Our speaker lineup is phenomenal!

• Cathie Adams     Cathie Adams has been involved in the Republican Party in many ways: as an election judge, a member of the district, state and national resolutions/platform committees; a Delegate to every senatorial and state convention since 1988; and a Delegate to the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Republican National Conventions.At the 2008 State Convention, Cathie was elected as the Republican National Committeewoman for Texas. Cathie was elected Chairman of the RPT in October 2009 by members of the State Executive Committee. She served as a member of the National Platform Committee in 2000, 2004 and 2008 where she led on issues such as the Right to Life, Border Security, Tort Reform, Limited Government/lower taxes, Sanctity of Marriage, Photo ID to Vote, U.S. Sovereignty and many others. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Young Conservatives of Texas, an independent, non-partisan, youth organization dedicated to the preservation of individual liberties and freedoms through limited government. Cathie is also a strong supporter and donor for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Texans Alliance for Life and National Rifle Association. She joined the board of the Dallas Eagle Forum in the mid-1980s, and then served as president for 5 years until being appointed president of the Texas Eagle Forum (www.texaseagle.org) in 1993 by the national affiliate’s leader Phyllis Schlafly. Cathie also serves on the board of the National Eagle Forum. (source: Ms. Adams' website)

Kelly Shackelford, Esq.  -Kelly Shackelford, Esq., has been president and CEO of Liberty Institute since 1997.

Mr. Shackelford is a constitutional scholar who has argued before the United States Supreme Court, testified before the U.S. House and Senate on constitutional issues, and has won three state landmark First Amendment and religious liberty cases in the past few years alone.

He was recently named one of the 25 greatest Texas lawyers of the past quarter-century by Texas Lawyer, and is the recipient of the prestigious William Bentley Ball Award for Life and Religious Freedom Defense for his leadership and pioneering work protecting religious freedom.

Mr. Shackelford is a highly sought after speaker and frequent guest on national TV news and talk show programs including The O’Reilly Factor, Fox and Friends, Hannity, Good Morning America, NBC’s Today Show, CNN, and MSNBC. He also has been featured in the National Law Journal, Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, and The L.A. Times, among many others.

Mr. Shackelford is on the Board of Trustees of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society and is a graduate of Baylor University. (source: libertyinstitute.org)

Hannah Smith - The Becket Fund 


Senior Counsel Hannah Smith joined The Becket Fund in 2007 following two clerkships at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. In her advocacy of religious liberty cases at the trial, appellate, and U.S. Supreme Court levels, Hannah has been featured on Fox News, "The O'Reilly Factor," "The Sean Hannity Show," C-Span, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, U.S. News and World Report, the Associated Press, National Review Online, the Laura Ingraham Show, the Rush Limbaugh Show, National Public Radio, and many other publications and radio shows.

Hannah received her A.B. from Princeton University, concentrating in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She graduated from Brigham Young University Law School with honors and served as Executive Editor of the BYU Law Review. During law school, she also served as a research assistant for the BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies and as president of the BYU Federalist Society. Following law school and in between clerkships, she was an associate in private practice at national law firms in Washington D.C., representing clients before state and federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court in civil, criminal, and constitutional cases.

Hannah served as a full-time volunteer missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and Switzerland. She currently serves as a member of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society International Board and as a member of the Deseret News Editorial Advisory Board in Salt Lake City, Utah. She writes a regular column on religious liberty issues in the Deseret News.

Pastor Stephan Broden -  Broden founded the Fair Park Bible Fellowship Church in 1987 and serves as its Senior Pastor. He has served as President of the Fair Park Friendship Center for over 18 years and as its Executive Director for over 11 years. The center provides assistance to the community's "inner-city" families, including a clothing store and back-to-school rally where children from neighborhood families are provided with donated school supplies and family counseling.

• Broden advocates in the Fair Park and South Dallas areas for economic opportunity, improved access to education, and against abortion. He is a spokesman for the black pro-life movement in Dallas and a contributor to blackprolifemovement.blogspot.com. He is a founder of Ebony Berean, an organization whose mission includes informing African-American Pastors of the "Culture War".
  He is a speaker for the Tea Party movement and advocates for a return to what he considers proper Constitutional principles in government and the Judeo-Christian values that he claims undergird the founding of the United States of America. He supports an individual's right to bear arms, which he claims emanates from the Second Amendment, and a broad conception of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Broden has been a recurring political commentator on Fox News Channel, including appearances on the Glenn Beck show. He was awarded “Champion of the Republican Party” by the NRCC Business Advisory Council Texas and has also received the Ronald Reagan Gold Medal Award. From 1999-2002 he served as Republican Precinct Chairman in DeSoto, Texas.  (source: Wikipedia)
• Dr. Mark Shelton - Dr. Mark Shelton has been a pediatrician at Cook Children’s Hospital for more than 20 years. He grew up in Arlington and graduated from Lamar High School, Baylor University and Texas A&M Medical School. Mark and Mary Ann have been married 30 years and live in Fort Worth. They have three adult sons (all three Eagle Scouts) and a daughter (a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient). Their youngest son is also graduating from the United States Naval Academy this spring. Mark’s parents still live in the same house where he was raised (behind Randol Mill Park) and his brother and mom have a local CPA practice in downtown Arlington. Mark is active in Boy Scouts (and is an Eagle Scout), is a former Board member of the Ronald McDonald House and has served as past President of Lena Pope Home. The Shelton family are members of Travis Avenue Baptist Church.
  Dr. Mark Shelton is a two term Republican State Representative. He currently serves on the Texas House Committees for Public Education and Appropriations and has formerly served on the House Border and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. Mark has successfully passed legislation to restore control back to our local school districts, balance the state budget without raising taxes, and protect our state’s border against illegal drug and human trafficking. He has also authored legislation for stricter sex offender registration requirements, children and women’s healthcare, homeowner rights and protection of pro-life/pro-family values. Mark is a leader against federal government intrusions and is one of Texas most outspoken critics against Obamacare. He is “A” rated by the NRA and his legislative leadership awards include recognition as a “Health Care Hero,” “Legislator of the Year” and “Taxpayer Advocate.” (source: Dr. Shelton's website)
• Craig Bickley -    Craig Bickley has been active in politics since he was in High School.  As a senior, he was selected by his teachers as the lone student from the district to attend the National Young Leaders Conference hosted by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council.  In college, while studying Engineering at Texas A&M University, he learned the value of giving back to the community through his active membership in Alpha Phi Omega, a national service organization. He now looks to serve the community he lives in by helping to return local government to the taxpayers. (source: Mr. Bickley's website)
• Pat Fallon -    Recently pegged as a “bright star in our State Party,” by the Republican Party of Texas and its chairman, Steve Munisteri, Pat Fallon is a proven conservative who has shown dedicated leadership within the GOP for over twenty years.  As a member of the Texas Republican Party Chairman’s Circle (one of only fourteen members in the state), Pat has been recognized for his outstanding work for Texas and the GOP.  He is committed to electing not just Republicans, but to electing conservative Republicans to public office. Pat has called North Texas home for over 20 years and is happily married to his wife of seven years, Susan.  They have two sons, Thomas (5) & Mac (2). Frisco is now home to over 122,000 residents, of which close to 50,000 now live in Denton County. To the credit of conservative resident and responsible government, Frisco is the fastest growing city of its size in America.  As a candidate for the newly created House District 106, Pat is running as the proven conservative leader to represent Denton County, and conservatives all over Texas, in Texas Legislature in Austin. (source: Mr. Fallon's website)
  
  
• Giovanni Capriglione -    Giovanni has been married for 11 years to his wife Elisa and has three children, two of whom attend Carroll Elementary School. He has lived the American dream. After receiving his BS in Physics he pursued his MBA in Finance from Santa Clara University. After school Giovanni went on to work for a DFW based venture capital/private equity firm.
  Giovanni is now the owner and President of his own small business, Texas Adventure Capital LLC, where he provides business services to various investment fund managers and business owners. His focus is investing in Texas-based small businesses. Prior to that Giovanni was a Senior Vice President at an investment firm where he managed the loan and equity portfolios of various American businesses. Before that Giovanni held various positions at computer engineering companies primarily centered around semiconductor design and Internet products. Giovanni has devoted himself to conservative ideals and has been actively fighting for limited and efficient government in the DFW area. He has leadership positions in several local Republican and conservative grassroots organizations, focusing on voter education and turnout. Giovanni has helped groups around the country in campaigns against Democratic candidates. He has also volunteered time and resources to get conservative candidates elected in local positions. (source: Mr. Capriglione's website)
• Stephanie Klick - more information coming!