Constitution Week: 1st Amendment & The Courts

Constitution Week: 1st Amendment & The Courts

Contributed to TLB by: KrisAnne Hall, JD

Constitution Week continues as we look at a current Supreme Court case and see what it means for Religious Liberty when a Christian business sues the City of Phoenix over an ordinance compelling them to operate outside their conscience.

••••

Watch this revealing presentation …

••••

Resources:

1.  Arizona Supreme Court

JUSTICE GOULD authored the opinion of the Court, in which JUSTICES BOLICK, LOPEZ, and PELANDER (RETIRED) joined. JUSTICE BOLICK filed a concurring opinion. JUSTICE BALES (RETIRED), joined by VICE CHIEF JUSTICE TIMMER and JUDGE STARING,∗ dissented. VICE CHIEF JUSTICE TIMMER filed a dissenting opinion. JUDGE STARING filed a dissenting opinion.

JUSTICE GOULD, opinion of the Court:

¶1 The rights of free speech and free exercise, so precious to this nation since its founding, are not limited to soft murmurings behind the doors of a person’s home or church, or private conversations with like– minded friends and family. These guarantees protect the right of every *Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel has recused himself from this case. Pursuant to article 6, section 3 of the Arizona Constitution, the Honorable Christopher P. Staring, Judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two, was designated to sit in this matter.

BRUSH & NIB ET AL. V. CITY OF PHOENIX Opinion of the Court 4 American to express their beliefs in public. This includes the right to create and sell words, paintings, and art that express a person’s sincere religious beliefs.

¶2 With these fundamental principles in mind, today we hold that the City of Phoenix (the “City”) cannot apply its Human Relations Ordinance (the “Ordinance”) to force Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studios, LC (“Brush & Nib”), to create custom wedding invitations celebrating same-sex wedding ceremonies in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs. Duka, Koski, and Brush & Nib (“Plaintiffs”) have the right to refuse to express such messages under article 2, section 6 of the Arizona Constitution, as well as Arizona’s Free Exercise of Religion Act (“FERA”), A.R.S. § 41-1493.01.

¶3 Our holding is limited to Plaintiffs’ creation of custom wedding invitations that are materially similar to those contained in the record. See Appendix 1. We do not recognize a blanket exemption from the Ordinance for all of Plaintiffs’ business operations. Likewise, we do not, on jurisprudential grounds, reach the issue of whether Plaintiffs’ creation of other wedding products may be exempt from the Ordinance. See Appendix 2.

¶4 Duka and Koski’s beliefs about same-sex marriage may seem old-fashioned, or even offensive to some. But the guarantees of free speech and freedom of religion are not only for those who are deemed sufficiently enlightened, advanced, or progressive. They are for everyone. After all, while our own ideas may be popular today, they may not be tomorrow. Indeed, “[w]e can have intellectual individualism” and “rich cultural diversities . . . only at the price” of allowing others to express beliefs that we may find offensive or irrational. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 641–42 (1943). This “freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much . . . [t]he test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.” Id. at 642.

Continue reading …

••••

2.  US Supreme Court Opinion Not a Victory for Religious Liberty

UPDATE: Since I wrote this article in June of 2018, the Colorado Civil Rights Division did exactly what I predicted they would do, and perhaps what the SCOTUS wanted them to do. They didn’t stop persecuting Mr. Phillips. Instead they took the SCOTUS advice and changed their methods of persecution so their actions would be viewed as “legal.” It will be interesting to see where the persecuted go from here. It will be interesting to see if those will admit this case was no victor for Religious Freedom, but quite the opposite. We must see truth if we are going to be effective in defeating the lies.

SCOTUS Gay Wedding Cake Decision Did Nothing To Protect Religious Freedom

The Supreme Court of the United States rendered its opinion on a highly anticipated case regarding the right of a baker to refuse to design and create a wedding cake for a gay marriage ceremony based upon his religious convictions. However, for SCOTUS, this appears not to be a case of religious freedom, but one of unjust government discrimination.

The History

Jack Phillips, a practicing Christian, often refused to design and create baked goods based upon his religious beliefs. His store was closed on Sundays and other Christian holidays, he refused to create or design desserts for Halloween, and he refused to make desserts that contained alcohol.

Phillips did not refuse to serve the same-sex couple who later filed a complaint. He only refused to design and create a cake for their wedding. He remarked that he would be happy to design and create cookies, birthday cakes, shower cakes or brownies, but not a wedding cake due to religious objections.

The same-sex couple filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and the commission, after several hearings, decided that Phillips had violated Colorado’s public accommodation laws by refusing to create and design this wedding cake for the same-sex couple. The commission did not accept Phillip’s defense of religious conviction. In fact, members of the commission, on record and as justification for their decision, mocked Phillip’s beliefs and compared his religious convictions to slavery and the Holocaust.

The Supreme Court found in favor of Phillips in a 7-2 opinion, based particularly on the statements of the Colorado commissioners.

There are some very significant points that must be made to clarify this carefully written opinion. Because of the great public anticipation over this case, there will be a tendency to make more of what was said than was actually said and mischaracterize the magnitude of this decision.

Continue reading …

••••

This article/show (Constitution Week: 1st Amendment & The Courts) was contributed to TLB Project by author KrisAnne Hall and was originally published on KrisAnneHall.com.

••••

About the Author: KrisAnne Hall is an attorney and former prosecutor, fired after teaching the Constitution to TEA Party groups – she would not sacrifice liberty for a paycheck. She is a disabled veteran of the US Army, a Russian linguist, a mother, a pastor’s wife and a patriot. She now travels the country and teaches the Constitution and the history that gave us our founding documents. KrisAnne Hall does not just teach the Constitution, she lays the foundations that show how reliable and relevant our founding documents are today. She presents the “genealogy” of the Constitution – the 700 year history and five foundational documents that are the very roots of American Liberty.

••••

See more articles/shows by KrisAnne HERE

••••

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE! so you can get the “Daily Journal” delivered right to your “door” everyday! Subscribe Here: Daily Journal Delivery

••••

TLB also highly recommends you click on the link below for much more vital information:

Guarding Our Future From Indoctrination By 

It is hard to deny that our public schools do more indoctrinating than educating. Let us help you protect their future with the proper education to counter what they are being forced to learn. If we fail in this endeavor, all the progress we make will be for nothing, the enemy will have their victory […]

••••

Get Informed – Get Equipped – Get Inspired

Because “Liberty must be defended at all hazards.” John Adams

If you would like a better understanding of how our Constitution created our federal judiciary, our online educational program called Liberty First University, will give you that understanding free from historical revision and political propaganda.  They have both online courses on the judiciary and DVDS available for in home, church, and group meetings.

You can find out more by clicking on the image below.

Check out The KrisAnne Hall Show by clicking on the link below:

••••

Stay tuned to …

••••

The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)

••••

Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.

••••

Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

••••

Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*