After Elane Photography, LLC, was ruled against unanimously by the New Mexico Supreme Court in August, 2013, Elane petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue of whether a religious person who works as a photographer must be forced to photograph a gay marriage, in accordance with the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA), if that person is asked by a homosexual to so do (case and trial summary). The question asked of the Supreme Court in the petition, written by the Alliance Defending Freedom (headed by Jordan Lorence) is this: “Whether applying a state public-accommodations statute to
Archives for Human Rights
Elane Photography Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Constitutional Case
New Mexico Forces Christian Photographers to Serve Gay Weddings – Elane Photography v. Willock (2013)
In the 2013 trial, Elane Photography, LLC, v. Vanessa Willock, Willock sued Elane Photography for refusing to photograph Willock’s “commitment ceremony” i.e. wedding. The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously found that Elane–despite religious convictions against gay marriage and despite her willingness to serve gays in services Elane already provided–violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA) that provides for protected groups to be specially shielded from discrimination. The court found that Elane had discriminated based on sexual orientation and was not protected by Constitutional guarantees of free speech or the free exercise of religion. Elane was forced to pay damages
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Reconsiders U.S.-Wide Licence Plate Data Collection Program
Criticism by privacy advocates has caused the U.S. Homeland Security Department (DHS) to review its proposal for private companies to provide the government with a U.S.-wide database of licence plate tracking information. The concerns raised by privacy advocates include the gratuitous nature of the privacy intrusion, the lack of regulations and safeguards regarding the data collection, and the lack of measures that would provide for audits of the system. The data collection proposal by the DHS was made public Feb. 12 on the government website, Federal Business Opportunities. The website, also known as Fed Biz Ops, is a public
Gay Marriage Guaranteed by Equal Rights Protections in Constitution – Baehr v. Lewin (1993) and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003)
Two cases mark the recent change in the legal status of homosexual marriage: Baehr v. Lewin (1993) and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003). In Baehr, the finding of a constitutional right based on the guarantees of equal protection was not enough to change laws prohibiting gay marriage, but in Goodridge, where the same equal-rights guarantee was found, the state interest claims did not convince the majority of justices that homosexual marriage should remain prohibited. The constitutionally protected right of homosexuals to engage in sex was secured in a case which concluded months before Goodridge–Lawrence v. Texas (2003). The
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms in the U.S.A.
James Madison wrote 19 proposed Amendments to the Constitution. Ten were ratified in 1791, becoming the Bill of Rights. The right to bear arms is the second Amendment: “A well guarded Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The U.S. Constitution drew upon the Virginia Constitution, written by Geoge Mason, for its language. The Virginia Constitution, adopted in 1776, had 16 sections. The right to bear arms was the 13th: “That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to
Constitutional Interpretations Can Be Found to or Found Not to Give Rights to Homosexuals – Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
In the 80s and 90s, laws against homosexual activity were first upheld as not in violation of Constitutional rights and later reversed as being in violation–Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and Lawrence v. Texas (2003). In Bowers v. Hardwick, two Georgia men were arrested for sodomy when a police officer tasked with serving a warrant for public drinking found the men engaged in sex at Hardwick’s home. After the local district attorney decided not to proceed with the case, Hardwick brought suit against the Attorney General of Georgia, Michael Bowers, seeking a declaration that the state’s laws against homosexual sex were invalid. The ACLU
Gay Marriage Validity Found by Supreme Court in 2013 – U.S. v. Windsor
unconsitutional for Fifth Amendment Due Process reasons–United States v. Windsor. The case involved the legacy left to New York woman by her spouse, to whom she was married in 2007 in Toronto. Because New York did not recognize the marriage, Windsor did not qualify for the state’s unlimited spousal deduction and was required to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes on her wife’s estate. The trial, in its district court stage, was benefited by a 2011 release by Attorney General Eric Holder on behalf of the Obama administration explaining that the government would only continue to enforce DOMA Section 3
Privacy Penumbras Found in U.S. Constitution Protect Contraception and Abortion Decisions – Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Roe v. Wade (1973)
The employment of the U.S. Constitution to protect rights not explicit in its writing took shape in the 60s around birth control and abortion laws in Connecticut, Texas and elsewhere. Two such cases were Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Roe v. Wade (1973). In Griswold v. Connecticut, an 1879 statute against contraceptives–which had almost never been enforced and had evaded judicial review until this trial–was put in question when a pair contraceptives activists opened a clinic. The statutes read: “Any person who uses any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception shall be fined not less than fifty dollars or
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