Protesters demonstrate outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2022. The US Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday appeared ready to rule that a Christian web designer has a right to refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages in a case the liberal justices said could empower…
Supreme Court hears major case on free speech, faith and LGBTQ equality
joe daniel price/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday appeared sympathetic with a wedding website designer challenging Colorado’s anti-discrimination law and its requirement that she provide services for same-sex couples or face a fine. At the same time, the justices seemed wary about the ramifications…
Does the First Amendment protect a right to discriminate?
Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that threatens to open the door widely to businesses being allowed to violate anti-discrimination laws. If the court rules that the First Amendment protects the right of business owners to discriminate — based on claims of freedom of speech or…
Supreme Court to Hear Case of Web Designer Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday over whether a graphic designer in Colorado has a First Amendment right to refuse to create websites celebrating same-sex weddings based on her Christian faith despite a state law that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation. The case, a sequel…
U.S. Supreme Court leans toward web designer with anti-gay marriage stance
Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled sympathy on Monday toward an evangelical Christian web designer whose business refuses to provide services for same-sex marriages in a major case pitting LGBT rights against a claim that freedom of speech exempts artists from anti-discrimination laws. The justices were hearing spirited arguments in…
Same-sex marriage fight continues at the Supreme Court with challenge from website designer
(CNN) — The Supreme Court will revisit the intersection of LGBTQ rights and religious liberty on Monday, when it takes up the case of a graphic designer who seeks to start a website business to celebrate weddings — but does not want to work with same-sex couples. The case comes…
US High Court To Review Refusal To Provide Service To Same-sex Couple
The US Supreme Court is to hear a suit filed by a Christian website designer who declines to provide wedding services to same-sex couples Can a business owner cite her religious convictions in declining to provide service to a same-sex couple? The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court is to examine the…
Op-Ed: Does the 1st Amendment protect a right to discriminate?
The case of 303 Creative LLC vs. Elenis is not directly about the free exercise of religion, but the issue will lurk behind any ruling. On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that threatens to open the door widely to businesses being allowed to violate…
Supreme Court to review workplace dispute over free speech and gay marriage
Lorie Smith is a business owner, who says she puts her Christian faith above financial profit. However, her efforts to manage both have put Smith in conflict with Colorado officials over the limits of workplace speech, an issue the Supreme Court will address in high-profile oral arguments on Monday. At…
Oklahoma AG Declares Taxpayer-Funded Religious Charter Schools Legal
It’s just waiting for someone to walk through it. getty The Supreme Court has slowly and steadily busted a hole in the wall between church and state when it comes to education. AG opinion: Statute barring charter school operators from religious affiliation unconstitutional (nondoc.com) In a fifteen-page opinion issued December…
Why a Delaware judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging future COVID-19 restrictions
Attorneys for two pastors who filed a lawsuit asking Chancery Court to prevent Delaware’s governor from imposing future restrictions on religious worship are meeting to see what their next step will be after a judge dismissed the case last week. The Rev. Alan Hines, of Townsend Free Will Baptist Church…
Justices get second chance to strike balance between LGBTQ, First Amendment rights
Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building at dusk on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) more > The Supreme Court has already ordered Colorado’s civil rights commission to give faith-based artists who object to same-sex marriage a fair hearing when deciding whether to…
Tennessee county should drop ‘Judeo-Christian values’ from document, Atheist group says
Hands on bible. File photo via Shutterstock. more > Officials in Sumner County, Tennessee, are under fire for including a reference to “the Judeo-Christian values inherent in our nation’s founding” in a document outlining “standing rules” for county commissioners. The preamble to the county’s “Standing Rules and Procedures,” amended in…
Settlement Allows Wyoming Rescue Mission to Hire Based on Religion
Wyoming Rescue Mission (file photo) ADF attorneys representing Casper homeless shelter favorably settle case with state, federal government officials Two months after filing a lawsuit on behalf of the Wyoming Rescue Mission, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys reached a favorable settlement with state and federal government officials. As part of the…
Settlement Allows Wyoming Rescue Mission to Hire Based on Religion
Wyoming Rescue Mission (file photo) ADF attorneys representing Casper homeless shelter favorably settle case with state, federal government officials Two months after filing a lawsuit on behalf of the Wyoming Rescue Mission, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys reached a favorable settlement with state and federal government officials. As part of the…
Montgomery County urges justices to deny religious burden claim
Montgomery County validly enforced a zoning requirement that two Burtonsville landowners claim prevented a Christian group from building a church on their land, the county stated Monday in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the owners’ request that it hear their appeal. Burtonsville Associates and Burtonsville Crossing LLC allege…
Paul Mero: LDS Church should get out of politics, especially the modern American culture war
Church support for Respect for Marriage Act shows what a tangled mess religion and politics make (Rick Bowmer | AP photo) In this Jan. 3, 2018, photo, the angel Moroni statue, silhouetted against the sky, sits atop the Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. My wife…
Court allows Council Bluffs’ pit bull ban to stand, despite arguments the law is unconstitutionally vague
Council Bluffs officials did not violate the rights of dog owners when they banned keeping pit bulls and similar dogs within the city, a federal appeals court has affirmed. The city’s ordinance, which took effect in 2005, bans owning, keeping or selling pit bulls, defined in the law as any…
Notre Dame Religious Liberty Clinic defends Muslim man forced to pray next to jail cell toilet
Notre Dame, IN — A Muslim man’s request to pray in accordance with the dictates of his Islamic faith was repeatedly denied by correctional officers in the Dodge County Detention Facility in Wisconsin. His case addresses the lack of religious accommodations made for practicing Muslims in prison systems. The Notre…
Colorado wedding website designer heads to Supreme Court next month for fight over excluding gay couples
Web designer Lorie Smith is shown in her office on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, in the southwest part of Littleton, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) LITTLETON — A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle…
Designer who refused to make website for gay couple ready for Supreme Court fight
Web designer Lorie Smith is shown in her office on Nov. 7, 2022, in Littleton, Colo. A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle in the U.S. Supreme Court next month is about protecting…
Littleton designer ready for high court fight on excluding gay couples
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, Monday, June 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) LITTLETON, Colo. — A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle in the U.S. Supreme Court next month is…
Designer ready for high court fight on excluding gay couples
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle in the U.S. Supreme Court next month is about protecting everyone’s right to free speech. Lorie Smith spoke about her case, which…
Ms. Smith Goes to Washington to Protect Her Religious Freedom
COMMENTARY: When the Supreme Court takes up 303 Creative v. Elenis on Dec. 5, we will find out if people who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman will be shielded from reprisal. Web designer Lorie Smith is taking her case 303 Creative v. Elenis to the…
Supreme Court Blows Chance to End Racist Legacy
American Samoa’s delegation during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 23, 2021. The Insular Cases, which deny citizens of Puerto Rico and four other US territories full constitutional rights, remain good law after the US Supreme Court denied review of a case involving birthright citizenship.…