Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (screen capture)
Joe Manchin Announces He Will Vote To Confirm Judge Jackson To Supreme Court
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia (image via Facebook)
American Bar Association Gives Judge Jackson ‘A-Plus’ Rating
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (screen capture via C-Span)
58% Of Americans Support Confirming Jackson To SCOTUS
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (screen capture)
Justice Stephen Breyer To Retire From Supreme Court
Justice Stephen Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term, according to NBC News. Continue reading “Justice Stephen Breyer To Retire From Supreme Court”
News Round-Up: December 2, 2021
Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: One of the Jussie Smollett ‘attackers’ testified in court today he took part in the alleged charade because he thought Smollett (above) could help his “acting career.” Continue reading “News Round-Up: December 2, 2021”
Supreme Court Turns Away Religious Exemption For Vaccinations
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block Maine’s vaccination mandate for health care workers seeking religious exemptions. Continue reading “Supreme Court Turns Away Religious Exemption For Vaccinations”
SCOTUS Declines To Hear Appeal For Anti-LGBTQ Florist
(stock image via Depositphotos)The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by anti-LGBTQ florist Barronelle Stutzman of Washington state who refused to sell flowers to a same-sex couple for their wedding.
Stutzman’s petition is listed on Friday’s orders list indicating the high court had denied certiorari, or refused to take up the case. No reason was given although the orders note that Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would have granted the petition to hear the case. In the Supreme Court, at least four justices have to agree to take up a case.
The decision means the ruling by the Washington Supreme Court will stand.
The sad story began in 2013 when Rob Ingersoll and Curt Freed, longtime customers of Arlene’s Flowers owned by Stutzman, approached the florist for flowers for their dream wedding. Stutzman refused claiming doing so would violate her religious beliefs.
In 2017, the case had made its way up to the Washington state high court which ruled Stutzman had violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws which prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people in public accommodations. The florist was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
Stutzman appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 wherein SCOTUS vacated the lower court’s decision and asked the Washington court to review the case in light of a narrow ruling in the case of Jack Phillips, owner of the Colorado bakery Masterpiece Cakeshop.
A year later, in June 2019, the Washington Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision finding there had been no animosity involved against Stutzman in the original ruling.
Today’s decision is the end of the road in terms of legal options for Stutzman.
The Supreme Court is once again effectively saying that non-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people can stand.
Now we need them across the country, and in every walk of life. That's why we need the #EqualityActNow. https://t.co/1wFKTbDjbc
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 2, 2021
Alphonso David, president of Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement, “The Supreme Court has once again said that critical nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people are legally enforceable and has set a strong and definitive precedent.”
Kristen Waggoner, general counsel for the virulently anti-LGBTQ legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, called the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case “tragic.”
So ends the saga of Barronelle Stutzman, who the hate group ADF has been fundraising off for the better part of a decade.
She lost before *and* after Masterpiece Cakeshop in the lower courts. LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections aren't going to be totally overturned this week. https://t.co/y8pLVIyYHl
— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) July 2, 2021
This is the third high profile LGBTQ-related case addressed by the Supreme Court.
In June, SCOTUS issued a unanimous but very narrow ruling in favor of Catholic Social Services (CSS) in Philadelphia which had refused to certify same-sex couples who applied to become foster parents.
The ruling was not the broad ‘license to discriminate’ anti-LGBTQ advocates had hoped for. Instead, the justices found in favor of CSS because the city hadn’t applied its own policy of exemptions uniformly. The decision only applies to CSS and its contract with Philadelphia.
And earlier this week, SCOTUS also rejected to hear an appeal by a Virginia school board seeking ban transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. That decision sets precedent regarding restroom discrimination in schools in at least five states.
SCOTUS Declines To Hear Challenge To Trans Bathroom Rights https://t.co/fQ3JmnV18N #LGBTQrights #GavinGrimm pic.twitter.com/b3xWUFipWw
— The Randy Report (@randyslovacek) June 28, 2021
6 Years Ago Today: Marriage Equality Becomes The Law Of The Land
Six years ago today, the United States took a huge leap forward in equal rights for all when the Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality was a constitutional right. And just like that, my marriage was valid and equal to all. Easily one of the most impactful, emotional days of my life. I will never be able to articulate the emotions that came over me in the minutes, hours, days after the news was announced. And then, just to put the cherry on top of the sundae, the White House celebrated the occasion awash in the colors of the LGBT rainbow. Still so far to go, but it’s important to slow down for a second and remember the good days.
Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge To Abortion Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court (2021)
The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19- 1392, concerns a law enacted by the Republican-dominated Mississippi legislature that banned abortions if “the probable gestational age of the unborn human” was determined to be more than 15 weeks. The statute included narrow exceptions for medical emergencies or “a severe fetal abnormality.”
Lower courts said the law was plainly unconstitutional under Roe, which forbids states from banning abortions before fetal viability — the point at which fetuses can sustain life outside the womb, or around 23 or 24 weeks.
Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic sued, saying the law ran afoul of Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that affirmed Roe’s core holding.
Judge Carlton W. Reeves of Federal District Court in Jackson, Miss., blocked the law in 2018, saying the legal issue was straightforward and questioning the state lawmakers’ motives.
In his ruling, Reeves wrote that he believed the Mississippi lawmakers knew exactly what they were doing when they passed the law setting up an eventual appearance at SCOTUS. A 3-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, agreed with Reeve’s ruling. It should come as no surprise that the basis for the legislation was written by the hate group Alliance Defending Freedom.