Martin Cannon has been one of several Senior Litigation Counsel at Thomas More Society. His 38 year career in state and federal courts nationwide has focused on the courtroom defense of unborn children, pro-life citizens, religious liberty and freedom of speech. He has also assisted legislators in drafting, passing and defending pro-life legislation. He represented Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds in defense of Iowa’s Heartbeat Law against a challenge by Planned Parenthood.
Mr. Cannon has defended some 40 cases for sidewalk counselors brought at the behest of Nebraska’s late term abortionist Leroy Carhart. After securing victories in a large number of those, he and a fellow attorney obtained a federal court ruling that those prosecutions were unlawful and ordering the State of Nebraska to cease them.
With fellow Thomas More attorney Matthew Heffron, Mr. Cannon obtained the jury acquittal of Fr. Norman Weslin in Nebraska on federal FACE charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, and after a lengthy federal trial in New York City with fellow attorney Steve Crampton, he resoundingly defeated efforts by the Attorney General of the State of New York to obtain a federal court order barring pro-life citizens from the public sidewalks around one of the biggest abortion facilities in the country.
Mr. Cannon was Lead Counsel in a lengthy Washington, DC jury trial for Lauren Handy and eight others overcharged by the weaponized Biden Department of Justice. They had held a peaceful sit in at a late term Washington abortion clinic conducting illegal abortions and were sentenced to years-long prison terms. He and the Thomas More Society were later instrumental in securing President Trump’s pardon of Ms. Handy and her eight co-defendants as well as 13 other pro-life Americans improperly charged by the Biden DOJ.
Mr. Cannon has tried cases with a winning record in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Alabama, Tennessee, Washington, DC and New York. He has resolved cases in favor of sidewalk counselors without trial in those and many other states.
Mr. Cannon and his wife, Christine, are on the Board of Directors of the Assure Women’s Center in Omaha, Nebraska
