May 04, 2016

The National Organization for Women (NOW) has been ordered to pay $63,000 in court cases to a group  of pro-life activists, in the final act of a long-running legal case that began in 1986.

NOW had brought suit against Joseph Scheidler and a group of co-defendants under the federal RICO act– legislation designed to curb organized crime– charging them with a criminal conspiracy to shut down abortion clinics. The suit was finally dismissed after a series of trials and appeals.

The 7th Circuit Court has now ruled that NOW must pay “modest” court costs to the defendants, allowing a bit more than $2,000 for each year the case was in the courts. The ruling noted that the case was 28 years old and had been brought before the US Supreme Court three times. “This litigation has lasted far too long,” the decision said. “At last it is over.”