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Michael Voris and Christine Niles discussing Church Militant’s First Amendment Court victory Church Militant video screenshot

BALTIMORE (LifeSiteNews) — Another U.S. court ruled against the city of Baltimore and its attempts to use legal tactics to quash Church Militant’s “Bishops: Enough Is Enough” prayer rally scheduled to take place just outside the hotel where the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will hold its annual fall gathering.

“Baltimore city officials did everything they could to keep sex abuse victims from speaking out against the U.S.  bishops and the ongoing cover-up of clerical sexual predation,” said Christine Niles of Church Militant (CM) in a video report.

“This is big,” Niles said of CM’s court victory. “I don’t think people understand how big this is.”

“It’s the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s a federal court. The only thing higher is the U.S. Supreme Court,” she explained.

In its quest to suppress the event, the city has used the pretext that some of the planned speakers — including Milo Yiannopoulos, Steve Bannon, Michelle Malkin, Fr. James Altman, and Michael Voris — are alt-right conservatives who might “incite violence in the heart of downtown Baltimore.”

During the court proceedings, “the city was twisting everything” recounted CM founder Michael Voris.

Niles agreed. “The other team was using dirty tricks and dirty tactics. And cheating. That was one of the most frustrating things: Sitting in that courtroom, listening to the way that [the city’s attorney] was twisting the facts to make us look as bad as possible.

“There’s a reason that Baltimore has a reputation for corruption. And now I understand firsthand why,” she added.

The U.S. bishop’s luxurious Marriott waterfront hotel with huge windows facing the MECU Pavillion  where the prayer rally will take place.

An international gay crime syndicate

While it’s the city of Baltimore that has sought to prevent the rally from taking place at the MECU Pavilion located in plain sight from the bishops’ luxurious Marriott waterfront hotel ballroom meeting space, Voris and Niles believe that it’s the U.S bishops themselves who are behind the effort to keep conservative Catholics from gathering to pray and call attention to unresolved issues of clergy sex abuse.

Voris said the bishops “clearly do not want” the November 16 prayer rally to happen.

“None of this huge headache would’ve happened had it not been for someone at the U.S. Bishops Conference stepping in, complaining, and asking — we think — [Baltimore City solicitor] Jim Shea to do them a favor and quash this rally.”

Shea has been a major contributor to the Maryland Bishops’ Catholic Conference while also sending millions of tax dollars to the conference in his role as solicitor, according to Voris and Niles.

“Baltimore City Solicitor Jim Shea — who tried (and failed) to cancel our Nov. 16th rally — has deep ties to the US bishops,” tweeted Niles.

“It’s shocking how ‘in deep’ he is with these people,” Niles said.

“When we talk about these guys being corrupt, an international gay crime syndicate, we are not kidding,” Voris added.

Momentous First Amendment victory

During the prolonged legal battle, Church Militant’s First Amendment rights were at stake. Over the course of two months, Baltimore repeatedly attempted to violate the organization’s First Amendment rights though viewpoint discrimination.

Last month, Church Militant attorney Marc Randazza said:

What more does the City need to persuade it that the First Amendment is not optional, but mandatory, for a state actor? And how much latitude does this Court wish to give to a state actor that will not abide its clear orders?

“Baltimore hopefully learned a lesson in First Amendment law that its taxpayers now have to pay for,” Randazza told the Associated Press yesterday.

Niles said that other First Amendment Rights court cases taking place around the country have been keeping their eyes on Church Militant’s battle with Baltimore’s city hall.

“Government agencies cannot be allowed to trample on individual citizens and crush them down,” Voris said in an interview with Fox Baltimore.

Church Militant is now suing the city, hoping to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees incurred battling the city’s attempted denial of the organization’s First Amendment rights.

LifeSiteNews reached out to the USCCB for comment, but no response was received prior to the publication of this article.

The “Bishops: Enough Is Enough” prayer rally will take place on November 16 on the waterfront in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Register to attend here.

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Milo Yiannopoulos will emcee the “Bishops: Enough Is Enough” prayer rally.

Currently slated to speak:

  • Michael Voris — Church Militant 
  • Fr. James Altman — Stripped of faculties 
  • Steve Bannon — War Room: Pandemic 
  • Terry Barber & Jesse Romero — Virgin Most Powerful Radio
  •  Stephen Brady — Roman Catholic Faithful
  •  Patrick Coffin — Coffin Nation 
  • Brien Dux — Plaintiff, Detroit archbishop lawsuit 
  • James Grein — McCarrick victim 
  • Jim Havens — The Men’s March 
  • Michael Hichborn — Spokesman, USCCB fraud lawsuit 
  • Duffy Kane — Baltimore Resistance captain 
  • Michelle Malkin — Investigative journalist 
  • Chris Manion — Catholic author and professor 
  • George Neumayr — Senior editor, The American Spectator 
  • Molly Smith — President, Cleveland Right to Life