Indiana's RFRA-Vox.com
1. What does the Indiana RFRA say?
-"the government can't intrude on a person's religious rights unless it has a compelling government interest and is acting in the least intrusive way possible"
2. In what way could this law possibly allow other forms of discrimination?
-critics say it could legally protect employers, landlords, and business owners who discriminate against LGBT people on religious grounds
3. Why did then Governor Mike Pence clarify his interpretation of the law?
-there was national outrage and many big businesses and celebrities spoke of boycotting the state
4. What happened in the 1990 Supreme Court case that inspired the creation of the first RFRAs?
-the court ruled someone could be fired for using peyote, a hallucinogenic drug, during a religious Native American ceremony, Wilson said. Although the court ruled against the religious argument in that case, it suggested that governments could establish explicit protections that would exempt people from certain laws if they have a genuine religious objection
5. Why did "Advance America" support the new law?
-according to Advance America, the state's RFRA would help "Christian bakers, florists and photographers" so they're not "punished for refusing to participate in a homosexual marriage!" God Forbid!
6. How did the Supreme Court use the federal RFRA to alter the regulations in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)?
-In 2014, the US Supreme Court cited the federal RFRA to exempt some employers from Obamacare's birth control mandate, which requires all employer-provided health plans to cover FDA-approved contraceptives without any cost-sharing for the patient
Colorado's Masterpiece Cake Shop - Vox.com
7. What situation caused these two parties to end up in the Supreme Court?
-Charlie Craig and David Mullins, a same-sex couple, went to Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, to try to buy a cake for a wedding reception. The owner, Jack Phillips, refused the request, arguing that due to his Christian beliefs, he opposed same-sex marriages and did not want to do anything that looked like an endorsement of a same-sex wedding.
8. What was Craig and Mullins' argument in the case?
-Craig and Mullins filed charges of discrimination in response, citing a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation by public accommodations (places that are open to the public, such as hotels, restaurants, and bakeries).
9. How did Phillips defend his actions?
-He argues that he’s not really discriminating against same-sex couples, because he would have served Craig and Mullins any non-wedding goods that they asked for. His only issue is that from his perspective, baking the couple a wedding cake would force him to celebrate an act he’s opposed to — and forcing him to do that, he argues, violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression
10. How do we know that the Trump administration supported Phillips in this case?
-the White House filed a friend of the court brief supporting Masterpiece Cakeshop’s legal arguments, which could influence the Supreme Court.
11. How do Phillips and his attorneys argue that the wedding cake is different than normal services he provides?
-Phillips, as a baker, is an artist, and that Colorado’s nondiscrimination law stifles his artistic expression. They claim that by forcing Phillips to make and sell a cake to a same-sex couple, the government would essentially be telling him to support a same-sex marriage that he is genuinely opposed to on religious grounds.
12. What do Colorado state laws say that might protect Craig and Mullins?
-the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, that declares, in short, that it’s unlawful to deny goods or services to someone due to their disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.
1. What does the Indiana RFRA say?
-"the government can't intrude on a person's religious rights unless it has a compelling government interest and is acting in the least intrusive way possible"
2. In what way could this law possibly allow other forms of discrimination?
-critics say it could legally protect employers, landlords, and business owners who discriminate against LGBT people on religious grounds
3. Why did then Governor Mike Pence clarify his interpretation of the law?
-there was national outrage and many big businesses and celebrities spoke of boycotting the state
4. What happened in the 1990 Supreme Court case that inspired the creation of the first RFRAs?
-the court ruled someone could be fired for using peyote, a hallucinogenic drug, during a religious Native American ceremony, Wilson said. Although the court ruled against the religious argument in that case, it suggested that governments could establish explicit protections that would exempt people from certain laws if they have a genuine religious objection
5. Why did "Advance America" support the new law?
-according to Advance America, the state's RFRA would help "Christian bakers, florists and photographers" so they're not "punished for refusing to participate in a homosexual marriage!" God Forbid!
6. How did the Supreme Court use the federal RFRA to alter the regulations in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)?
-In 2014, the US Supreme Court cited the federal RFRA to exempt some employers from Obamacare's birth control mandate, which requires all employer-provided health plans to cover FDA-approved contraceptives without any cost-sharing for the patient
Colorado's Masterpiece Cake Shop - Vox.com
7. What situation caused these two parties to end up in the Supreme Court?
-Charlie Craig and David Mullins, a same-sex couple, went to Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, to try to buy a cake for a wedding reception. The owner, Jack Phillips, refused the request, arguing that due to his Christian beliefs, he opposed same-sex marriages and did not want to do anything that looked like an endorsement of a same-sex wedding.
8. What was Craig and Mullins' argument in the case?
-Craig and Mullins filed charges of discrimination in response, citing a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation by public accommodations (places that are open to the public, such as hotels, restaurants, and bakeries).
9. How did Phillips defend his actions?
-He argues that he’s not really discriminating against same-sex couples, because he would have served Craig and Mullins any non-wedding goods that they asked for. His only issue is that from his perspective, baking the couple a wedding cake would force him to celebrate an act he’s opposed to — and forcing him to do that, he argues, violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression
10. How do we know that the Trump administration supported Phillips in this case?
-the White House filed a friend of the court brief supporting Masterpiece Cakeshop’s legal arguments, which could influence the Supreme Court.
11. How do Phillips and his attorneys argue that the wedding cake is different than normal services he provides?
-Phillips, as a baker, is an artist, and that Colorado’s nondiscrimination law stifles his artistic expression. They claim that by forcing Phillips to make and sell a cake to a same-sex couple, the government would essentially be telling him to support a same-sex marriage that he is genuinely opposed to on religious grounds.
12. What do Colorado state laws say that might protect Craig and Mullins?
-the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, that declares, in short, that it’s unlawful to deny goods or services to someone due to their disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.
Comments
Post a Comment