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>
public accommodations law
Supreme Court Agrees to Review Catholic Foster Care Agency’s Claimed Right to Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples
The U.S. Supreme Court announced on February 24 that it will review a 2019 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, in which that court rejected 1st Amendment claims by the Catholic Social Services agency in Philadelphia that lost its foster services contract with the City by insisting it would refuse to provide services to same-sex couples. The unanimous appeals court decision affirmed a ruling by U.S. District Judge … <Read More>
Kentucky Supreme Court Avoids Ruling on Clash Between Free Speech and Anti-Discrimination Law in T-Shirt Case
In a case that drew 26 amicus briefs – an unusually high number for an argument in a Midwestern state high court, the Kentucky Supreme Court found an off-ramp from having to decide whether a small business that produces custom t-shirts has a right to refuse an order to print a shirt with whose message the business owner disagrees in Lexington-Fayetteville Urban County Human Rights Commission v. Hands on Originals, 2019 Ky. LEXIS 431, … <Read More>
Washington Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Florist Who Refused Flowers for Same-Sex Wedding Ceremony
Continuing an unbroken string of appellate rulings finding that small businesses cannot refuse to supply goods or services for same-sex marriages in jurisdictions that ban sexual orientation discrimination, the nine members of the Supreme Court of the State of Washington unanimously ruled on February 16 that Barronelle Stutzman, proprietor of Arlene’s Flowers, Inc., and her business, violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) and the state’s Consumer Protection Act, and had no constitutional right to … <Read More>