Following a bench trial this week a federal court in Michigan is set to rule in the case of a farm that was banned from a city-run market in East Lansing over its owners' refusal to allow same-sex couples to hold weddings on their property.
The years-long legal battle that started in 2016 is yet another example of the difficulty federal courts are having balancing the First Amendment rights of religious people and the rights of gay people not to be discriminated against. And it implicates two major Supreme Court rulings from the past four years.
Steve and Bridget Tennes at Country Mill Farms. The Tennes family is in a long-running legal battle with East Lansing, Michigan."If a city can target and punish a farmer for his religious beliefs on marriage, and do the things that they did and get away with that kind of authority over somebody's religious beliefs… they really have the power to try to impact everybody's religious beliefs," Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kate Anderson told Fox News.
CNN'S JEFFREY TOOBIN RIPS JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS IN FIRST OP-ED SINCE RETURN FROM SEXUAL MISCONDUCT SCANDAL The city disputes this, saying Country Mills' decision not to host same-sex weddings is"commercial conduct" which does not have protection under the First Amendment. It is, the city says,"a general business practice that was in violation of the city's anti-discrimination policy."Also at issue in this case are two major Supreme Court precedents, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
But the farm's lawyers point to a statement made by East Lansing Mayor Ruth Beier, who was previously a member of the city council, as relevant. "With this unfettered power, City officials can effectively regulate any vendor’s speech and religious beliefs by conditioning participation in the Market on speech and practice the City deems acceptable," its brief says.
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