Keith Fournier Named Special Counsel for Liberty Counsel
In a move seeking to mobilize millions to stand in solidarity for religious freedom, defend marriage, and promote the protection of all human life, two long-time human-rights and constitutional lawyers, Mat Staver and Keith Fournier, announced a formal collaboration for the culture on Friday.
Staver also announced the appointment of Fournier as special counsel of the organization he founded called the Liberty Counsel, which is a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life and family values.
Last year, Fournier and Staver co-authored and jointly released a Marriage Solidarity Statement. They are currently completing a similar joint statement entitled “The First Freedom: Defending the Foundation of the Free Exercise of Religion,” which will be released by Christmas.
The appointment of Fournier as Special Counsel to Liberty Counsel and announcement of formal collaboration of these two leaders arises out of their shared concern that the erosion of religious freedom threatens the sources of all our liberties.
Staver is chairman of Liberty Counsel and also serves as chairman of Liberty Counsel Action. He has argued two landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court as lead counsel. He has written numerous briefs before the High Court and other courts, having argued in numerous state and federal courts across the country. He has more than 210 published legal opinions.
Staver has written hundreds of popular articles, five scholarly law review publications, numerous brochures and booklets, and 11 books, most of which focus on constitutional law. Staver is an evangelical Protestant leader whose lifetime of dedication to religious freedom has made him a well-known figure across the Christian confessional spectrum, as well as a popular media figure, speaker and respected Christian leader.
Keith Fournier is founder and chairman of Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance, as well as the editor in chief of Catholic Online. He is an ordained member of the Catholic clergy, a Catholic deacon, and well-known—not only in Catholic circles but across the broader Christian community—as a prolific writer. He is the author of eight books and hundreds of articles on public policy, Christian faith, Christian unity, marriage and family, prayer and devotion, and contemporary issues of concern to Catholics, other Christians and all people of faith.
Fournier has served as a dean at Franciscan University, was the founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice, and had a long career as a constitutional lawyer and public policy advocate at the intersection of faith and culture. He appeared at the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous appeals courts on pro-life, pro-family and religious-freedom cases and controversies.
He has been active in ecumenical efforts oriented toward bringing Christians together to influence the culture with their values informed by faith. He is dedicated to offering the truths and principles found in classical Christian thought as the leaven for the renewal of the culture.
Fournier is a graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville (Theology and Philosophy, BA), the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University (Theology of Marriage and Family, MTS), and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (JD). He has completed requirements for the Ph.D. in Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America and is writing his doctoral dissertation.
Last year when Staver and Fournier released their joint statement on marriage, they acknowledged that differences exist between the signers on important matters of religious doctrine and practice, but declared that “on the matter of marriage, we stand in solidarity.”
The statement affirmed “that marriage and family have been inscribed by the Divine Architect into the order of creation. Marriage is ontologically between one man and one woman, ordered toward the union of the spouses, open to children and formative of family. Family is the first vital cell of society; the first church, first school, first hospital, first economy, first government and first mediating institution of our social order. The future of a free and healthy society passes through marriage and the family.”
Staver and Fournier on Friday issued a Formal Collaboration for the Culture. It can be found at the end of the news release announcing Fournier’s appointment.
