U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney granted summary judgment after a bench trial to Country Mill Farms (CMF) and its owner, Stephen Tennes, in their First Amendment Free Exercise lawsuit against the City of East Lansing, Michigan, which excluded CMF from the East Lansing Farmers Market (ELFM) because the company’s wedding hosting business was closed to same-sex couples. Country Mill Farms, LLC v. City of East Lansing, 2023 WL 5345236, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … <Read More>
Alliance Defending Freedom
Alliance Defending Freedom Asks Supreme Court to Intervene in West Virginia Transgender Sports Case
Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative religious litigation group, representing as intervening defendant a cisgender girl who claims it is unfair to require her to compete in track and field against a transgender girl, applied to the Supreme Court to reverse an order by a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals allowing B.P.J., a transgender girl, to continue competing while the court of appeals considers her appeal of an adverse ruling by … <Read More>
District Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Washington State’s Conversion Therapy Ban
Senior U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan has dismissed constitutional challenges to Washington State’s Conversion Therapy ban (codified in Wash. Rev. Code Sections 18.130.20 and 18.130.180) brought by Brian Tingley, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who asserted a violation of his free speech and free exercise of religion rights, as well as alleging a violation of due process. Tingley v. Ferguson, 2021 WL 3861657, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164063 (W.D. Wash., Aug. 30, … <Read More>
Federal Court Temporarily Blocks New York State from Requiring a Religious Adoption Agency to Provide Services to Married Same-Sex Couples
New Hope Family Services, which describes itself as a Christian adoption agency licensed by New York State to provide adoption services, has won a preliminary injunction to block New York’s Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) from closing the agency because of its refusal to provide services to married same-sex couples. New Hope Family Services, Inc. v. Poole, 2020 WL 5887296, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183926 (N.D.N.Y., October 5, 2020).
New Hope sued … <Read More>
Federal Court Bars Enforcement of Louisville Public Accommodations Ordinance Against A Wedding Photographer Who Opposes Marriage Equality
Justin Walker, recently confirmed by the Senate to be a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, completed some unfinished business on his docket as a U.S. District Judge in Louisville, Kentucky, by issuing an order on August 14 barring the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission from enforcing the sexual orientation provision of the city’s public accommodation ordinance against a wedding photographer who does not want to photograph same-sex … <Read More>
Alliance Defending Freedom Asks Supreme Court to Revisit Religious Exemption Issue
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a religious freedom litigation group, is asking the Supreme Court to take a second look at Arlene’s Flowers v. State of Washington, No. 19-333 (Docketed September 12, 2019), in which the Washington Supreme Court held that a florist who refused to provide her usual custom floral design and installation wedding services for a same-sex couple had violated the state’s anti-discrimination law, and did not have a valid 1st Amendment … <Read More>
8th Circuit Revives Videographer’s 1st Amendment Claim Against Having to Make Same-Sex Wedding Videos
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit ruled by a vote of 2-1 on August 23 that a commercial videographer could assert a 1st Amendment claim that it was privileged to refuse to make wedding videos for same-sex couples, as an exemption from compliance with Minnesota’s Human Rights Act, which expressly forbids public accommodations from discrimination because of a customer’s sexual orientation. Telescope Media Group v. Lucero… <Read More>
United States Supreme Court Refuses to Review Transgender Bathroom Case from Boyertown, Pennsylvania
The Supreme Court announced on May 28 that it will not review a decision by the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which had rejected a constitutional and statutory challenge by cisgender students at Boyertown (Pennsylvania) Senior High School, who were upset that the School District decided to let transgender students use facilities consistent with their gender identity. Doe v. Boyertown Area School District & Pennsylvania Youth Congress Foundation, 897 F.3d 518 (3rd… <Read More>
Federal Court Rejects Christian Agency’s Claimed Constitutional Right to Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples Seeking to Adopt Children
U.S. District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino has rejected a Christian social welfare agency’s bid to be exempted from complying with non-discrimination regulations promulgated by the New York Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). Ruling on May 16 in New Hope Family Services, Inc. v. Poole, 2019 WL 2138355, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2138355 (N.D.N.Y.), the court rejected a variety of constitutional arguments advances by the plaintiff in support of its claim of a … <Read More>
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Discrimination Because of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity Violates Title VII’s Ban on Discrimination Because of Sex
The U.S. Supreme Court announced on April 22 that it will consider appeals next term in three cases presenting the question whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination because of an individual’s sex, covers claims of discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity. Because federal courts tend to follow Title VII precedents when interpreting other federal sex discrimination statutes, such as the Fair Housing Act and Title … <Read More>