U.S. justices pose tough questions about baker's refusal to make gay wedding cake

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters




DECEMBER 5, 2017 / 1:02 AM / UPDATED 15 MINUTES AGO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices including pivotal jurist Anthony Kennedy on Tuesday posed tough questions to lawyers representing a conservative Christian baker in Colorado who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but also raised concerns about religious liberty implications in the closely watched case.

-snip-

Several of the justices asked questions that suggested they are concerned about how far a ruling in favor of the baker might extend. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan wondered about whether a hairstylist, chef or a makeup artist could refuse service, claiming their services are also speech protected by the Constitution. “Why is there no speech in creating a wonderful hairdo?” Kagan asked.

Kennedy said that many examples of other businesses implicated involved free speech rights. He asked U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who backed the baker, what would happen if the court rules for the baker and bakers nationwide then started receiving requests to not bake cakes for gay weddings. “Would the government feel vindicated?” he asked.

Kennedy, considered the potential decisive vote in the case, also posed questions about implications for religious liberty.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-baker/u-s-justices-pose-tough-questions-about-bakers-refusal-to-make-gay-wedding-cake-idUSKBN1DZ0H7

[PSPS]

1. Next up: "God tells me not to serve black people"

[FarPoint]

4. Yeap...

They are tearing down all the social bridges.

[christx30]

2. Whenever I hear about these stories,

it makes me think about this story that was covered here in 2012.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/121854946

[forgotmylogin]

3. If they let one business discriminate, we're started down the slope.

That means other businesses can say "me too!" Next thing you know marginalized people can't get loans or do business at the bank.

As I posted before - if you want to run an exclusive business, run it out of your house, don't take tax breaks that public business do, or a take up a storefront in public.

[angrychair]

5. It is not a slippery slope...it is the bottom of the slope

Every person and business can claim “religious exceptions” for anything and everything. If I say “I’m a satanist and my ‘closely held religious beliefs’ forbids me to touch or be at risk to touch, the blood of any non-satanist, so as an EMT I could not help the accident victims or as a doctor, I could touch the bleeding victim who was a Christian” is completely fair.

Are you discriminating against my ‘closely held religious beliefs’?

Religion will kill us all.