Monica L. Miller argued the Bladensburg Cross case before the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2019. The case was brought in 2014 by the American Humanist Association challenging a government-owned and maintained 40-foot Latin cross memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland. Monica will discuss the experience of preparing and arguing the case before the current Supreme Court and what we can expect for the state of secularism in the courts going forward.
Learn more about the Bladensburg Cross case here.
The event is free for members of the Chicago Humanists, please log in to get your ticket.
About Monica L. Miller
Legal Director and Senior Counsel, American Humanist Association
Monica L. Miller, Esq., is Legal Director and Senior Counsel at the American Humanist Association (AHA). Since joining the AHA in 2012, Ms. Miller has vigorously defended the constitutional mandate of separation of church and state by litigating Establishment Clause cases across the country. She has served as lead counsel in over 25 federal cases, including before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits. Ms. Miller has presented oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (twice), Fifth Circuit, Ninth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit.
She has filed a number of briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and served as counsel of record in our Supreme Court case challenging the Bladensburg Cross. Ms. Miller has appeared live on Fox News and MSNBC, as well as local television stations and radio shows, and is regularly quoted by national and local media outlets throughout the country, including Fox News, NPR, ABC, NBC, Aljazeera, USA Today, Newsweek, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the National Law Journal, among many others.
In pursuit of her concern for fundamental rights, Miller is also an attorney for the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), working to obtain common law personhood rights for nonhuman animals. Miller’s work at the NhRP has captured the interest of the world’s leading legal scholars, scientists, and journalists. She is also featured in an HBO documentary, Unlocking the Cage.