By: David French – nationalreview.com – December 4, 2017 It’s astounding how many defenses of the state’s position in Masterpiece Cakeshopdepend on misrepresentation and misconceptions. Last week I wrote about the most common misrepresentation — that Jack Phillips discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation when he refused to design a custom cake for a same-sex-wedding celebration. After all, he...

By: George Will – nationalreview.com – December 2, 2017 The conversation about a cake lasted less than a minute but will long reverberate in constitutional law. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear 60 minutes of speech about when, if at all, making a cake counts as constitutionally protected speech and, if so, what the implications are for...

By: David French – nationalreview.com – November 30, 2017 The First Amendment and nondiscrimination laws should point the Supreme Court to the just decision. Forgive me for starting a piece with the oldest cliché in the practice of law. As the saying goes, “If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If the facts are on your...

By: Liberty McArtor – stream.org –  November 30, 2017 The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The high-profile case deals with First Amendment rights and same-sex marriage. Defendants say the case will decide whether the government can compel speech that violates one’s conscience. Plaintiffs say it’s about whether businesses can discriminate. Backstory Phillips owns Masterpiece...

  BEAVER, PA, November 30, 2017—Almost six months after First Liberty Institute sent a letter to the Beaver Area School District (BASD) regarding the district’s religious censorship of high school senior Moriah Bridge’s graduation remarks, BASD has changed course. BASD has enacted a new policy explicitly stating the expressions of students and/or other private speakers at future graduation ceremonies “shall...

  By: Kelly Shackelford and James C. Ho – thehill.com – September 1, 2017 The day after the U.S. Supreme Court ended its 2015-2016 term, three justices issued a troubling statement. It was four months after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, and the Court had just fallen one vote short of taking a significant religious freedom case. In response, Justice...

By: William M. Briggs – stream.org – August 30, 2017 The Freedom From Religion Foundation is so upset that Senator Marco Rubio has been tweeting quotations from the Bible, they wrote him a hot letter about it. Professing themselves to be wise, the group became fools and say Senators quoting the Bible is a “constitutional violation.” We understand that you have been...

  by: David French – nationalreview.com – August 30, 2017 A mayor’s backlash against a basic statement of Evangelical Christian belief signals an ominous turn in the culture wars. Don’t ever forget that, for some folks, “separation of church and state” is a half-measure. It’s just a pit stop on the road to de-Christianizing America. It’s a temporary means to...

by Joe Carter – hegospelcoalition.org – June 8, 2017 The Story: In a confirmation hearing of an executive branch nominee, two U.S. senators imply that those who believe Jesus is the only way to salvation are “Islamophobic” and not fit for public office. The Background: Last year, a controversy erupted when a political science professor at Wheaton College decided to wear a...

By: Fred Lucas – @FredLucasWH – May 31, 2017 A farmers market and Facebook posts have opened a new front in courtroom battles over religious freedom. It started when Steve Tennes, who owns a 120-acre farm in Charlotte, Michigan, expressed his traditional view about marriage on the farm’s Facebook page. This drew a warning from an official more than 20...