Federal court OKs Mississippi religious liberty law

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Mississippi the green light on Thursday to begin enforcing broad protections for religious liberty adopted by the legislature last year. The law allows county clerks to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and protects business owners who don’t want to provide services for same-sex weddings. The plaintiffs, who claim the measure legalizes discrimination, plan to appeal the decision. A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit ruled the plaintiffs didn’t provide enough proof they would be harmed by the law, a theme echoed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Kevin Theriot: “The sole purpose of this law is to ensure that Mississippians don’t live in fear of losing their careers or their businesses simply for affirming marriage as a husband-wife union. Those who filed suit have not and will not be harmed but want to restrict freedom and impose their beliefs on others by ensuring dissenters are left open to the government discrimination that has already occurred in states without protective laws like this one.” ADF has defended several business owners against discrimination claims brought by state or local civil rights commissions.

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