I know politics-wise that we’re all pretty focused on the election, but I wanted to shed some light on an upcoming Supreme Court case that has the potential to restrict the rights of many Americans.
In 2018, the City of Philadelphia ended its contract with Catholic Social Services (CSS) which was refusing to consider same-sex couples as potential parents. CSS sued the City of Philadelphia on the grounds that providing these services violates their first amendment right of freedom of speech and free religious exercise. CSS lost the case in district court and appealed to the Third Circuit of the U.S Court of Appeals which reaffirmed the decision.
Now, the case is scheduled to hear the case on November 4th, the day after election day. With this case, the Supreme Court has the potential to make a massive decision about whether grounds of religious beliefs are the exception to anti-discriminatory laws.
There is a recent Supreme Court decision that provides some precedent for this case, but it isn’t good news. In the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the court decided that the Cakeshop was within their rights to refuse service to a same-sex couple. The ruling however, was very specific to this case and did not provide any insight into how religious freedom might excuse discrimination in other cases.
Because the ruling on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was so specific, the high court could rule either way. But, as we all have heard by now, Trump’s Supreme Court Justice nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, has been sworn in. Of course, this skews the court more conservative than it was previously.
We don’t know what’s going to happen with this case, but whatever decision the Supreme Court comes to we can’t forget how they got there. Trump has appointed 3 out of the sitting 9 Supreme Court justices, Barrett the most recent having been appointed the week before the election.