Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch cited the treatment of Christian Colorado cake baker Jack Phillips during oral arguments in another religious liberty case on Monday, stating that Philips was made to “go through a reeducation program” for declining to bake cakes for same-sex weddings. In a back and forth with Colorado Solicitor General Eric Olson regarding the case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis , Gorsuch challenged Olson’s assertion that there have been no cases in the past several years in which the state failed to protect religious liberty. Gorsuch cited the case Masterpiece CakeShop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission , in which the Supreme Court notably reached a 7-2 decision in 2018 that the commission acted with hostility toward religion when it ordered Phillips to make cakes for same-sex weddings and conduct so-called sensitivity training for his employees. In his exchange with Olson, Gorsuch characterized those trainings as a “reeducation program.” Gorsuch: … [Read more...] about Gorsuch: Colorado Cake Baker Made to ‘Go Through Reeducation Program’
Faith Advocates: Religious Freedom ‘at Risk’ in Website Designer Case
Religious liberty proponents spoke outside the Supreme Court during and after oral arguments on Monday in a case surrounding a Christian website designer who alleges that Colorado law would force her to design wedding websites for same-sex couples in spite of her convictions. Faith advocates warned of a potential point of no return, stating that First Amendment protections of religious freedom are “now at risk” if the Supreme Court does not side with artist Lorie Smith, owner of graphic design firm 303 Creative LLC. “We aren’t just here fighting for Christians; we are here at the Supreme Court, asking them to protect all people’s unique faith and all people’s ability to operate in the public sphere without being told how to speak,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said. "We aren’t just here fighting for Christians; we are here at the Supreme Court, asking them to protect all people’s unique faith and all people’s ability to operate in the public sphere … [Read more...] about Faith Advocates: Religious Freedom ‘at Risk’ in Website Designer Case
Thune: There Has to Be ‘Consequence’ for Failing to Pass Budget and Waiting until End of the Year, Sequestration Worked Before
On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow,” Senate Minority Whip Sen. John Thune (R-SD) argued that there need to be budgetary consequences for Congress failing to pass budget and appropriations bills and waiting until the end of the year to ram through spending using the threat of a shutdown. Thune stated, [relevant remarks begin around 3:30] “[W]e have to have an orderly process that allows this work to get done earlier in the year. We can’t get up against the Christmas holiday and just then have them say, take this or leave it or we’re going to shut the government down.” He added that “the problem with the current budget law, and with the appropriations process for that matter too, is there’s no consequence to not doing it. And that’s why we’ve got to reform the budget process so that there is actually some cost associated. You miss the deadlines, you blow by the deadlines, we don’t do a budget resolution, we never do budget resolutions, then don’t do … [Read more...] about Thune: There Has to Be ‘Consequence’ for Failing to Pass Budget and Waiting until End of the Year, Sequestration Worked Before
Thune on Shutdown: ‘Anything’ ‘Is on the Table’ and Dems Can’t Blow up a Deal to Get Tons of Inflationary Spending
On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow,” Senate Minority Whip Sen. John Thune (R-SD) responded to a question on the possibility of a government shutdown by stating that “anything right now is on the table” and whether a deal is reached largely depends on how badly Democrats “want to get a deal to not blow it up with all kinds of new non-defense-related spending.” Thune also argued that the massive increase in spending “has contributed to and been largely responsible for the run-up that we’ve seen in inflation.” Thune said, “I’m hopeful that we can stop a lot of this extraneous, non-defense-related spending. I mean, there are things that we need to do for the military, we all know that. But the Democrats always want you to pay a ransom. You want to get a little bit more in military spending? Then you’ve got to give us a whole bunch more domestic spending. The problem is, they’ve got $4.5 trillion in these last two years since Biden took office, in spending, … [Read more...] about Thune on Shutdown: ‘Anything’ ‘Is on the Table’ and Dems Can’t Blow up a Deal to Get Tons of Inflationary Spending
Guy Reschenthaler Warns GOP: Playing Games Could Make ‘a Liz Cheney’ Speaker
Playing “silly games” can lead to “someone like a Liz Cheney taking the gavel,” warned Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, who called on Republicans to “put their personal feelings aside” and back leader Kevin McCarthy, who he described as “our best strategist” and would be “much more conservative than leaders in the past.” On Friday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Wake Up America,” Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) — who was recently named the House GOP chief deputy whip — discussed the agenda ahead for the new House Republican majority. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he said. “With a 222 seat majority, every vote is going to be a tight tight vote.” “So it’s gonna be really important to whip these votes and make sure that we’re playing defense on [President Joe] Biden and the Democrats’ far-left radical agenda,” he added. Host Tom Basile then asked the congressman how he believed things would play out given the current “fight for the speakership” and … [Read more...] about Guy Reschenthaler Warns GOP: Playing Games Could Make ‘a Liz Cheney’ Speaker