Legal Theory – Joseph William Singer

Religious exemption to public accommodation laws rejected by Supreme Court while those laws cannot be administered in a way that demonstrates hostility to religion or that unfairly discriminates among religious beliefs

July 10, 2018 / Antidiscrimination Law, Consumer Protection, Free Speech, Legal Theory, Religious Freedom, Sexual Orientation

This blog entry has a long title because the Supreme Court’s ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd., v. Colo. Civil Rights Comm’n, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 3386, 2018 WL 2465172 (U.S. 2018) is complicated and cannot be summarized quickly. While the baker won the case (the Supreme Court reversed the state court order to him to pay civil rights damages to the plaintiff couple for refusing to sell them a “wedding cake”), he won it on such narrow grounds that the decision is likely to wind up supporting the power to states to enforce civil rights law without regard to the religious objections of business owners. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the baker on narrow grounds in a 7-2 decision with four judges concurring. The two dissenting judges were Ginsburg and Sotomayor. Three concurring opinions were written by Kagan (joined by Breyer) and Gorsuch (joined by Alito) and Thomas (joined by Gorsuch). […]

Religious exemption to public accommodation laws rejected by Supreme Court while those laws cannot be administered in a way that demonstrates hostility to religion or that unfairly discriminates among religious beliefs Read More »

Scientists find evidence that human beings are born with an innate desire to help others

Studies of young children show that babies are innately sociable and helpful to others, Michael Tomasello writes in his book, “Why We Cooperate.” For example, “when infants 18 months old see an unrelated adult whose hands are full and who needs assistance opening a door or picking up a dropped clothespin, they will immediately help.” Read article.