Vindicated

Colorado baker Jack Phillips, vilified by LGBT forces and the Colorado government for years over his refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding event, won his case before the U.S. Supreme Court. A 7-2 majority ruled in his favor on June 4, saying the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had trampled on Phillips’ religious beliefs and tossing out the lower court rulings against him. “Jack is very relieved,” said Kristen Waggoner, the Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer who argued the case before the high court, on the day of the ruling. “It’s been a long six-year battle, where his family business, his income, has been hanging in the balance.”

Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, stating that the commission had demonstrated a “clear and impermissible hostility” toward Phillips and his “protected forms of expression”: “To describe a man’s faith as ‘one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use’ is to disparage his religion in at least two distinct ways: by describing it as despicable, and also by characterizing it as merely rhetorical—something insubstantial and even insincere.” The ruling, however, was narrow and noncommittal on the broader issue of religious vendors, citing the variety of circumstances for each case.

Banned

The Danish Parliament voted to ban the burqa and niqab, traditional garb for Muslim women covering the head and face. The law forbids all clothes covering the face in public, but critics have told the media it seems to unfairly target the Muslim minority and harm women’s rights. Danish officials have argued in the past that the burqa and niqab are a symbol of oppression in opposition to Danish principles of freedom. They have promised the press the new law is not intended to target any religion and helps protect against possible security threats. Anyone violating the law will be fined the equivalent of $156 for the first offense and a possible $1,568 for the fourth. France, Austria, and Belgium have similar laws.

Stopped

Jason Seaman, a middle-school science teacher in Noblesville, Ind., is being credited with saving his class from a shooter. Around 9 a.m. on May 25, in the middle of a test, a student burst into the room, firing two pistols. A student in the class told CNN the story, anonymously: He said Seaman ran at the shooter and tackled the student to the ground, shouting for the class to run out of the room. One female student was shot in the chest and is in the hospital, in critical condition. Seaman was hit three times but said in a statement that he is doing well after surgery. Seaman’s heroic action has been praised across the country, including in an acknowledgment from President Trump.

Requested

U.S. televangelist Jesse Duplantis has asked his followers for a fourth jet, the Falcon 7X, with a price tag of $54 million. In a video posted to his website, Duplantis said God told him he didn’t need to buy the plane himself, he just needed to believe for it. Many followers reacted in anger, tweeting Bible verses about greed, calling him a fraud and a hypocrite who doesn’t understand the Jesus he claims to follow. Some asked him if he realized how many poor people he could help with $54 million. Duplantis already owns three jets that he said he has used up in the service of spreading the gospel, explaining that he can no longer fly nonstop and the fueling costs are becoming expensive.