Freedom of Association Takes Another Hit

To see how little is left of one of our most important rights, the freedom of association, look no further than totoday ’s unanimous decision by the Washington State Supreme Court upholding a lower court ’s ruling that florist Baronelle Stutzman was guilty of violating the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) when she declined, on religious grounds, to provide floral arrangements for one of her regular customer’s same-sex wedding. The lower court had found Stutzman personally liable and had awarded the plaintiffs permanent injunctive relief, actual monetary damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs.This breathtaking part of the Supreme Court ’s conclusion is worth quoting in full:We also hold that the WLAD may be enforced against Stutzman because it does not infringe any constitutional protection. As applied in this case, the WLAD does not compel speech or association. And assuming that it substantially burdens Stutzman ’s religious free exercise, the WLAD does not violate her right to religious free exercise under either the First Amendment or article I, section 11 because it is a neutral, generally applicable law that serves our state government’s compelling interest in eradicating discrimination in public ac commodations.We have here yet another striking example of how modern statestatutory anti-discrimination law has come to trump a host of federalconstitutional rights, including speech, association, and religious free exercise. It ’s not too much to say...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs