Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws

2015-04-02 Thread Will Esser
Alan,
Thanks for your post.  However, both of the examples that you used to 
illustrate dignitary harms involve affirmative conduct of the person causing 
the harm (i.e. battery and trespass).  In the wedding photographer example, 
however, the opposite is true.  In that example, the alleged dignitary harm is 
caused by the decision of the individual not to engage in conduct (i.e. the 
wedding photographer says that she is happy to photograph gays and lesbians who 
come in to have their pictures taken, but simply wants to abstain from 
participating in the same-sex wedding).  
And more specifically, the alleged dignitary harm is explicitly tied to the 
reason the wedding photographer is refusing to participate.  In other words, 
the wedding photographer is allowed to refuse to shoot the wedding for a myriad 
of non-discriminatory reasons (e.g. I'm on vacation then, I don't shoot 
weddings for people with tattoos, etc.) and those do not cause dignitary harm 
(or they cause dignitary harm based on unprotected classifications) (e.g. I 
don't photograph fat people).  So it is in fact, the reason for the refusal to 
participate (i.e. the religious viewpoint that participating in a same-sex 
wedding ceremony violates religious precepts) which makes the difference under 
the relevant non-discrimination law and it is the reason for the refusal which 
causes the dignitary harm. 
It seems to me that whether there is affirmative action by the viewer versus 
simply refusing to participate makes a substantial difference when talking 
about dignitary harms.  
And on a related point, I'm not so sure that I agree with your initial premise 
that the refusal to engage in conduct which the religious believer views as 
violating her sincerely held religious beliefs is conduct and not speech.  
After all, actions speak louder than words and oftentimes the most expressive 
statement someone can make is refusing to participate in conduct.  (Not that 
I've given this point much prior thought, so I'd welcome anyone pointing me to 
cases which elaborate on this distinction about whether the refusal to perform 
an action constitutes conduct versus speech).     
Will Will Esser Charlotte, North Carolina
   From: Alan E Brownstein aebrownst...@ucdavis.edu
 To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu 
 Sent: Thursday, April 2, 2015 2:48 PM
 Subject: RE: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to 
non-discrimination laws
   
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{}#yiv9811712642 Will and Chip’s exchange ended on such a thoughtful and 
positive note (which I greatly appreciate)  that I hesitate to add another post 
to this thread out of fear it might break the spell.    I agree with Will and 
Chip’s discussion about when and whether speech by itself constitutes 
discrimination for the purposes of civil rights laws.    When we are talking 
about exemptions from anti-discrimination laws, however, the core issue isn’t  
dignitary harms that result from a proprietor’s speech. It is dignitary harms 
that result from the proprietor’s conduct. (I assume we all agree that a 
discriminatory refusal to serve a customer or to hire a job applicant is 
conduct and not speech.)    And while both speech and conduct can cause 
dignitary harms, we typically don’t equate the two and excuse the latter 
because we would tolerate the former. I may have no recourse if someone insults 
me because I’m a Jew. Indeed, the person insulting has a First Amendment right 
to express anti-Semitic statements. But if he spits on my  shirt or knocks my 
yarmulke off my head (which given my bald head takes very little force), I may 
not be able to get a pound of flesh for redress, but I can sue the person for 

RE: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread Berg, Thomas C.
Well, those list members, and activist groups, who wanted civil-rights claims 
excluded altogether want religious nonprofits not to be able to bring them 
either.  And if the test is where we would allow discrimination based on 
race, religious nonprofits have almost never been exempted from race 
discrimination laws, except with respect to churches and ministers.  So 
treating sexual-orientation claims exactly the same would mean a huge number of 
religious exemptions in existing state laws should be eliminated, and a vast 
number of actions brought against nonprofit institutions such as colleges and 
schools--evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, etc.--who should also 
lose their tax exemptions.

The NCAA and other business critics are happy with the Indiana fix, and that 
may indicate that the for-profit/non-profit line appeals to a lot of people who 
generally want to respect both gay rights and religious liberty.  But the wave 
that worked against the Indiana law won't stop at that line.

-
Thomas C. Berg
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy
University of St. Thomas School of Law
MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN   55403-2015
Phone: 651 962 4918
Fax: 651 962 4881
E-mail: 
tcb...@stthomas.eduhttps://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=mailto%3atcberg%40stthomas.edu
SSRN: 
http://ssrn.com/author='261564https://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=http%3a%2f%2fssrn.com%2fauthor%3d'261564
Weblog: http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com


From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] 
on behalf of James Oleske [jole...@lclark.edu]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 3:30 PM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

The Indiana House just passed the fix 66-30.

Thanks to Tom, Doug, and Marty for their responses.

As Doug notes, things are moving to fast to expect either of the law-professor 
groups who weighed in earlier on the Indiana RFRA to formulate a new group 
position on the fix, and I didn't meant to be asking for group positions. I 
merely meant to be asking if individual members of the list who had signed 
letters on either side might be supportive or not supportive of the proposed 
fix. And I should have mentioned that I am supportive of the fix, which seems 
to me to deliver at least 99% of the religious liberty protection that academic 
proponents of RFRA want, while excluding the 1% of cases that so concern the 
LGBT community.

With regard to Tom's prediction that many list members would oppose allowing 
nonprofit religious institutions to make RFRA claims, and speaking only for 
myself: Although I'm not a fan of RFRA's strict scrutiny standard in general,* 
I would not actively oppose legislation that allows religious institutions to 
bring RFRA claims. My central concern about the latest round of RFRA advocacy 
has been the move to extend exemption rights into the for-profit commercial 
realm, particularly in the context of LGBT rights. I don't think religious 
exemptions in the LGBT context should be any broader than they have 
traditionally been with respect to the other classes covered under state 
antidiscrimination laws, and we have not had a tradition of granting religious 
exemptions to commercial businesses. Florists, bakers, caterers, and wedding 
venues that are open to the public have never been exempted from state laws 
that preclude discrimination against interracial couples, interfaith couples, 
or couples involving divorced individuals, and I don't think we should change 
that approach to allow discrimination against same-sex couples. I'm open to 
libertarian arguments for limiting the reach of state public accommodations 
laws so they don't reach certain truly intimate or core expressive services, 
and the test I would apply is whether we would allow those services to 
discriminate on the basis of race. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't pass a law 
letting a bakery refuse to provide a wedding cake for an interracial couple, 
but perhaps there are spheres beyond Mrs. Murphy boarding houses where 
consensus could be achieved that proprietors should have absolute discretion to 
select customers (e.g., freelance writers).

* I would prefer that the Court revisit Smith and apply modestly heightened 
scrutiny to incidental burdens as a constitutional matter, not unlike it does 
to incidental burdens on speech; in the absence of that, I would support 
reasonable accommodation statutes at the state level resulting in modestly 
heightened scrutiny of incidental burdens on religious practices.

- Jim

On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 12:34 PM, Doug Laycock 
dlayc...@virginia.edumailto:dlayc...@virginia.edu wrote:
Sexual orientation and religious faith go to the core of 

RE: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread Berg, Thomas C.
Jim, this is helpful and clarifying, thanks.

-
Thomas C. Berg
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy
University of St. Thomas School of Law
MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN   55403-2015
Phone: 651 962 4918
Fax: 651 962 4881
E-mail: 
tcb...@stthomas.eduhttps://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=mailto%3atcberg%40stthomas.edu
SSRN: 
http://ssrn.com/author='261564https://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=http%3a%2f%2fssrn.com%2fauthor%3d'261564
Weblog: http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com


From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] 
on behalf of James Oleske [jole...@lclark.edu]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 6:18 PM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

Tom,

Again, I can't speak for others, but I think I was pretty clear in my message 
below that I was only talking about the for-profit-commercial context when I 
suggested using the race example as a tool for distinguishing between 
businesses that should be covered by state public accommodations laws and 
businesses that should not (central concern ... for-profit commercial realm 
... commercial businesses ... bakery). But in case not, let me be explicit: I 
was only making an argument about regulation in the for-profit-commercial realm.

American law has traditionally treated the nonprofit-religious-organization 
context very differently than the for-profit-commercial context, and it has 
allowed many more exemptions in the former context than the latter. If a given 
federal or state law allows nonprofit religious organizations to discriminate 
on all typically proscribed grounds except race, I could see an argument that 
sexual-orientation discrimination should be treated like sex discrimination and 
religious discrimination and allowed rather than race discrimination and 
disallowed. I would be troubled, however, if exemptions were adopted to allow 
discrimination in the nonprofit realm uniquely on the basis of 
sexual-orientation (e.g., nonprofit wedding venue can't discriminate against 
interfaith couple or couple including a divorced person, but can discriminate 
against a same-sex couple). And when it comes to the for-profit commercial 
context, where I do not believe there is any tradition of federal and state 
public accommodations laws making exemptions that allow businesses to 
discriminate on all typically proscribed grounds except race, it seems to me 
that the race example can be a helpful tool for identifying the proper scope of 
the public accommodations laws when libertarian arguments are made for limiting 
their scope.

- Jim


On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 2:35 PM, Berg, Thomas C. 
tcb...@stthomas.edumailto:tcb...@stthomas.edu wrote:
Well, those list members, and activist groups, who wanted civil-rights claims 
excluded altogether want religious nonprofits not to be able to bring them 
either.  And if the test is where we would allow discrimination based on 
race, religious nonprofits have almost never been exempted from race 
discrimination laws, except with respect to churches and ministers.  So 
treating sexual-orientation claims exactly the same would mean a huge number of 
religious exemptions in existing state laws should be eliminated, and a vast 
number of actions brought against nonprofit institutions such as colleges and 
schools--evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, etc.--who should also 
lose their tax exemptions.

The NCAA and other business critics are happy with the Indiana fix, and that 
may indicate that the for-profit/non-profit line appeals to a lot of people who 
generally want to respect both gay rights and religious liberty.  But the wave 
that worked against the Indiana law won't stop at that line.

-
Thomas C. Berg
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy
University of St. Thomas School of Law
MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN   55403-2015
Phone: 651 962 4918tel:651%20962%204918
Fax: 651 962 4881tel:651%20962%204881
E-mail: 
tcb...@stthomas.eduhttps://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=mailto%3atcberg%40stthomas.edu
SSRN: 
http://ssrn.com/author='261564https://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=http%3a%2f%2fssrn.com%2fauthor%3d'261564
Weblog: http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com


From: 
religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edumailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu 
[religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edumailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] 
on behalf of James Oleske [jole...@lclark.edumailto:jole...@lclark.edu]
Sent: Thursday, April 

Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread James Oleske
Tom,

Again, I can't speak for others, but I think I was pretty clear in my
message below that I was only talking about the for-profit-commercial
context when I suggested using the race example as a tool for
distinguishing between businesses that should be covered by state public
accommodations laws and businesses that should not (central concern ...
for-profit commercial realm ... commercial businesses ... bakery). But in
case not, let me be explicit: I was only making an argument about
regulation in the for-profit-commercial realm.

American law has traditionally treated the nonprofit-religious-organization
context very differently than the for-profit-commercial context, and it has
allowed many more exemptions in the former context than the latter. If a
given federal or state law allows nonprofit religious organizations to
discriminate on all typically proscribed grounds except race, I could see
an argument that sexual-orientation discrimination should be treated like
sex discrimination and religious discrimination and allowed rather than
race discrimination and disallowed. I would be troubled, however, if
exemptions were adopted to allow discrimination in the nonprofit realm
uniquely on the basis of sexual-orientation (e.g., nonprofit wedding venue
can't discriminate against interfaith couple or couple including a divorced
person, but can discriminate against a same-sex couple). And when it comes
to the for-profit commercial context, where I do not believe there is any
tradition of federal and state public accommodations laws making exemptions
that allow businesses to discriminate on all typically proscribed grounds
except race, it seems to me that the race example can be a helpful tool for
identifying the proper scope of the public accommodations laws when
libertarian arguments are made for limiting their scope.

- Jim


On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 2:35 PM, Berg, Thomas C. tcb...@stthomas.edu wrote:

  Well, those list members, and activist groups, who wanted civil-rights
 claims excluded altogether want religious nonprofits not to be able to
 bring them either.  And if the test is where we would allow discrimination
 based on race, religious nonprofits have almost never been exempted from
 race discrimination laws, except with respect to churches and ministers.
 So treating sexual-orientation claims exactly the same would mean a huge
 number of religious exemptions in existing state laws should be eliminated,
 and a vast number of actions brought against nonprofit institutions such as
 colleges and schools--evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox Jewish, Muslim,
 etc.--who should also lose their tax exemptions.

 The NCAA and other business critics are happy with the Indiana fix, and
 that may indicate that the for-profit/non-profit line appeals to a lot of
 people who generally want to respect both gay rights and religious
 liberty.  But the wave that worked against the Indiana law won't stop at
 that line.

  -

 Thomas C. Berg

 James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy

 University of St. Thomas School of Law

 MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue

 Minneapolis, MN   55403-2015

 Phone: 651 962 4918

 Fax: 651 962 4881

 E-mail: tcb...@stthomas.edu
 https://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=mailto%3atcberg%40stthomas.edu

 SSRN: http://ssrn.com/author='261564
 https://mail.stthomas.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=6b610058a5ad42118976395f869e05d3URL=http%3a%2f%2fssrn.com%2fauthor%3d'261564

 Weblog: http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com


 
 --
 *From:* religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [
 religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] on behalf of James Oleske [
 jole...@lclark.edu]
 *Sent:* Thursday, April 02, 2015 3:30 PM
 *To:* Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
 *Subject:* Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

The Indiana House just passed the fix 66-30.

  Thanks to Tom, Doug, and Marty for their responses.

 As Doug notes, things are moving to fast to expect either of the
 law-professor groups who weighed in earlier on the Indiana RFRA to
 formulate a new group position on the fix, and I didn't meant to be asking
 for group positions. I merely meant to be asking if individual members of
 the list who had signed letters on either side might be supportive or not
 supportive of the proposed fix. And I should have mentioned that I am
 supportive of the fix, which seems to me to deliver at least 99% of the
 religious liberty protection that academic proponents of RFRA want, while
 excluding the 1% of cases that so concern the LGBT community.

 With regard to Tom's prediction that many list members would oppose
 allowing nonprofit religious institutions to make RFRA claims, and speaking
 only for myself: Although I'm not a fan of RFRA's strict scrutiny standard
 in general,* I would not actively oppose legislation 

RE: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread Conkle, Daniel O.
I am dealing with other matters and cannot say more, but as someone who 
supported the Indiana RFRA and a letter on that side, I strongly support the 
fix, in part because James is largely correct when he says that it seems “to 
deliver at least 99% of the religious liberty protection that academic 
proponents of RFRA want, while excluding the 1% of cases that so concern the 
LGBT community.”  But beyond that, the RFRA without the fix – whether or not as 
a matter of misperception – was giving religious freedom a bad name and was 
tearing my state apart.  The fix does not include statewide antidiscrimination 
protection for members of the LGBT community; I wish it did

Dan

Daniel O. Conkle
Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Bloomington, Indiana  47405
(812) 855-4331
fax (812) 855-0555
e-mail con...@indiana.edumailto:con...@indiana.edu


From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu 
[mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of James Oleske
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 4:30 PM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

The Indiana House just passed the fix 66-30.
Thanks to Tom, Doug, and Marty for their responses.

As Doug notes, things are moving to fast to expect either of the law-professor 
groups who weighed in earlier on the Indiana RFRA to formulate a new group 
position on the fix, and I didn't meant to be asking for group positions. I 
merely meant to be asking if individual members of the list who had signed 
letters on either side might be supportive or not supportive of the proposed 
fix. And I should have mentioned that I am supportive of the fix, which seems 
to me to deliver at least 99% of the religious liberty protection that academic 
proponents of RFRA want, while excluding the 1% of cases that so concern the 
LGBT community.

With regard to Tom's prediction that many list members would oppose allowing 
nonprofit religious institutions to make RFRA claims, and speaking only for 
myself: Although I'm not a fan of RFRA's strict scrutiny standard in general,* 
I would not actively oppose legislation that allows religious institutions to 
bring RFRA claims. My central concern about the latest round of RFRA advocacy 
has been the move to extend exemption rights into the for-profit commercial 
realm, particularly in the context of LGBT rights. I don't think religious 
exemptions in the LGBT context should be any broader than they have 
traditionally been with respect to the other classes covered under state 
antidiscrimination laws, and we have not had a tradition of granting religious 
exemptions to commercial businesses. Florists, bakers, caterers, and wedding 
venues that are open to the public have never been exempted from state laws 
that preclude discrimination against interracial couples, interfaith couples, 
or couples involving divorced individuals, and I don't think we should change 
that approach to allow discrimination against same-sex couples. I'm open to 
libertarian arguments for limiting the reach of state public accommodations 
laws so they don't reach certain truly intimate or core expressive services, 
and the test I would apply is whether we would allow those services to 
discriminate on the basis of race. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't pass a law 
letting a bakery refuse to provide a wedding cake for an interracial couple, 
but perhaps there are spheres beyond Mrs. Murphy boarding houses where 
consensus could be achieved that proprietors should have absolute discretion to 
select customers (e.g., freelance writers).

* I would prefer that the Court revisit Smith and apply modestly heightened 
scrutiny to incidental burdens as a constitutional matter, not unlike it does 
to incidental burdens on speech; in the absence of that, I would support 
reasonable accommodation statutes at the state level resulting in modestly 
heightened scrutiny of incidental burdens on religious practices.

- Jim

On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 12:34 PM, Doug Laycock 
dlayc...@virginia.edumailto:dlayc...@virginia.edu wrote:
Sexual orientation and religious faith go to the core of identity. That is a 
reason for protecting them; it is obviously not an operational test.

I would protect the religious organizations themselves.

I would exempt marriage counselors; it is in no one’s interest to force them to 
counsel couples whose relationship they think is fundamentally wrong.

I would exempt very small businesses in the wedding industry, where the owner 
has to be personally involved in providing the services, if similar services 
are readily available elsewhere. Weddings are special because the religious 
side understands them as inherently religious events, creating a religious 
relationship – even if the couple is secular and thinking only of civil 
marriage. And all those who assist with a wedding are 

RE: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws

2015-04-02 Thread Alan E Brownstein
Good questions, Will. Let me start with the last point and work backwards. I 
have no doubt that actions can be extremely expressive. And the action of not 
obeying what one considers to be an unjust law can send a very powerful 
message. But for free speech purposes, these actions are not protected speech. 
The draft resister who refused induction to protest the Viet Nam war goes to 
jail. The religious person who refuses to pay taxes  to support what he or she 
considers to be immoral conduct may be sending a message too but they are still 
subject to sanction. The religious proponent of segregation who refuses to 
serve an African-American patron in his restaurant to express his commitment to 
racial hierarchy can be sued for doing so. If any of these people communicated 
their message of opposing the government’s  policies with speech, but did not 
refuse to comply with a legal obligation, they would be protected by the First 
Amendment.

As you say, in the wedding photography case, the dignitary harm is tied to the 
reason the wedding photographer is refusing to provide services to the same-sex 
couple. But the defendant’s motive is often an important component of a law 
that protects people against dignitary harm and it will clearly be relevant to 
the sentence or damage award. Not all contact between one person and another 
constitutes a battery, for example. Intent is necessary and the reason why the 
contact occurs will often help to determine whether it is offensive or not.

I understand that my examples involve affirmative conduct that causes dignitary 
harm. I think one can argue discrimination in operating a place of public 
accommodation is affirmative conduct as well. If the base line is serving 
everyone, singling out members of a particular class for less satisfactory 
service or no service has an affirmative conduct dimension to it. But I take 
your point that refusing to serve a gay man or an African-American woman  is a 
decision not to engage in conduct. But I’m not sure why this distinction makes 
a difference. I appreciate the religious liberty value assigned to the wedding 
photographer’s decision, but I have never differentiated between religious 
obligations that prohibit a person from doing something (don’t work on the 
Sabbath) and religious obligations that require a person to do something (smoke 
peyote in a religious ritual). I can come up with hypotheticals where the 
dignitary harm caused by a refusal to so something is greater than the 
dignitary harm resulting from affirmative conduct.  If both are unlawful and 
both cause dignitary harm, why should we differentiate between the two or treat 
a claim for religious exemption more favorably in one case than the other.

Alan


From: Will Esser [mailto:willes...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 2:19 PM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics; Alan E Brownstein
Subject: Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to 
non-discrimination laws

Alan,

Thanks for your post.  However, both of the examples that you used to 
illustrate dignitary harms involve affirmative conduct of the person causing 
the harm (i.e. battery and trespass).  In the wedding photographer example, 
however, the opposite is true.  In that example, the alleged dignitary harm is 
caused by the decision of the individual not to engage in conduct (i.e. the 
wedding photographer says that she is happy to photograph gays and lesbians who 
come in to have their pictures taken, but simply wants to abstain from 
participating in the same-sex wedding).

And more specifically, the alleged dignitary harm is explicitly tied to the 
reason the wedding photographer is refusing to participate.  In other words, 
the wedding photographer is allowed to refuse to shoot the wedding for a myriad 
of non-discriminatory reasons (e.g. I'm on vacation then, I don't shoot 
weddings for people with tattoos, etc.) and those do not cause dignitary harm 
(or they cause dignitary harm based on unprotected classifications) (e.g. I 
don't photograph fat people).  So it is in fact, the reason for the refusal to 
participate (i.e. the religious viewpoint that participating in a same-sex 
wedding ceremony violates religious precepts) which makes the difference under 
the relevant non-discrimination law and it is the reason for the refusal which 
causes the dignitary harm.

It seems to me that whether there is affirmative action by the viewer versus 
simply refusing to participate makes a substantial difference when talking 
about dignitary harms.

And on a related point, I'm not so sure that I agree with your initial premise 
that the refusal to engage in conduct which the religious believer views as 
violating her sincerely held religious beliefs is conduct and not speech.  
After all, actions speak louder than words and oftentimes the most expressive 
statement someone can make is refusing to participate in conduct.  (Not that 
I've given this point much 

Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws

2015-04-02 Thread Ira Lupu
I disagree with the New Mexico Supreme Court. Telling some customers that their 
business is unwelcome represents a denial of equal enjoyment of the goods and 
services . . . without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual 
orientation, et cetera.

Sent from my iPhone

 On Apr 2, 2015, at 7:15 AM, Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com wrote:
 
 Chip,
 
 Your example misses my point, so let me restate.  Here is a recap of where I 
 think we are:
 
 1.  You argue against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws on two 
 grounds, i.e. because of (a) material injury and (b) dignitary injury.
 2.  The material injury is the lost opportunity to receive the good or 
 service at the price or quality offered by a particular business.
 3.  The dignitary injury is (in your example) the wound to the dignity of 
 the couple by having to hear a viewpoint from the business owner which they 
 find offensive or with which they disagree. 
 
 I'm pushing back, because I'm not sure that both of these prongs can be used 
 to support your argument.  Let's assume the material injury prong is ABSENT 
 in each situation so that we can just test the sufficiency of the dignitary 
 injury prong (i.e. the wedding photographer WILL in fact provide photography 
 services for both opposite and same-sex weddings, and the bookseller will 
 sell anti-Christian books to everyone).   Let's go a step further and say 
 that the speech which wounds the dignity of the couple is present in EVERY 
 situation (i.e. the photographer notifies ALL her customers regarding her 
 belief about the morality of same-sex marriage, not just same-sex couples).
 
 As Mark pointed out, the New Mexico Supreme Court in Elane Photography 
 appeared to accept the material injury argument as a basis for not granting 
 a religious exemption to the local non-discrimination law, but not the 
 dignitary injury argument.  It held that the photographer posting a sign in 
 the studio stating her views about same-sex marriage was permissible, so long 
 as she still made the service available.  In other words, the Court appeared 
 to specifically permit the photographer to engage in the conduct which you 
 contend causes the dignitary injury so long as the service was still 
 provided and there was no material injury. 
 
 Do you disagree with the NM Supreme Court on that point?  If not, I think the 
 dignitary injury prong has to be rejected as a rationale to support the 
 argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws.  That would 
 leave your argument relying solely on the material injury prong (which is a 
 topic for another thread).   
 
 Stated another way, I'm having a hard time understanding the dignitary 
 injury argument as anything other than a position that people should not 
 have to hear certain viewpoints with which they disagree, even if goods and 
 services are otherwise being provided.   
 
 Will
 
  
 Will Esser 
 Charlotte, North Carolina
  
 From: Ira Lupu icl...@law.gwu.edu
 To: Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com 
 Cc: Law  Religion Issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu 
 Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 10:38 PM
 Subject: Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights
 
 The vendor does not have to be respectful of the beliefs of his customers. 
 How would he know the content of those beliefs? But he cannot be 
 disrespectful of the class of people to which the customers belong, or the 
 class to which he thinks the customers belong, If those classes are protected 
 by the antidiscrimination law. They are entitled to the full and equal 
 enjoyment of the goods he is selling, without any selectivity based on their 
 race, religion, etc. A bookstore owner can sell anti-Christian books, but he 
 must offer to sell them to Christians and non-Christians alike.
 
 Sent from my iPhone
 
 
 
 On Apr 1, 2015, at 9:41 PM, Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com wrote:
 
 Chip,
 
 Thanks for the explanation, which is helpful.  But I want to push a little 
 farther on this concept of dignitary injury.
 
 You state that the dignitary injury is more serious because it has 
 wounded the couple with this disrespect.  But how far can that argument 
 really go?  Are you saying that public non-discrimination laws not only 
 require the provisions of goods and services to all comers, but also require 
 that those services be provided in a way that will be viewed as respectful 
 of the particular beliefs of the customers? 
 
 If that is the case, does the photographer who has the Piss Christ 
 photograph by Andres Serrano hanging on the wall of their shop (i.e. a 
 photograph which very clearly singles out Christians for disrespect and 
 dignitary injury) also run afoul of public non-discrimination laws even if 
 the photographer is otherwise willing to perform photography services for 
 Christians?  Or use the same example but substitute in the cover of the 
 Charlie Hebdo magazine depicting the Prophet Muhammad? 
 
 Mark pointed it out 

Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws

2015-04-02 Thread Will Esser
Chip,
Your example misses my point, so let me restate.  Here is a recap of where I 
think we are:
1.  You argue against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws on two 
grounds, i.e. because of (a) material injury and (b) dignitary injury.2.  
The material injury is the lost opportunity to receive the good or service at 
the price or quality offered by a particular business.3.  The dignitary 
injury is (in your example) the wound to the dignity of the couple by having 
to hear a viewpoint from the business owner which they find offensive or with 
which they disagree.  
I'm pushing back, because I'm not sure that both of these prongs can be used to 
support your argument.  Let's assume the material injury prong is ABSENT in 
each situation so that we can just test the sufficiency of the dignitary 
injury prong (i.e. the wedding photographer WILL in fact provide photography 
services for both opposite and same-sex weddings, and the bookseller will sell 
anti-Christian books to everyone).   Let's go a step further and say that the 
speech which wounds the dignity of the couple is present in EVERY situation 
(i.e. the photographer notifies ALL her customers regarding her belief about 
the morality of same-sex marriage, not just same-sex couples).
As Mark pointed out, the New Mexico Supreme Court in Elane Photography appeared 
to accept the material injury argument as a basis for not granting a 
religious exemption to the local non-discrimination law, but not the dignitary 
injury argument.  It held that the photographer posting a sign in the studio 
stating her views about same-sex marriage was permissible, so long as she still 
made the service available.  In other words, the Court appeared to specifically 
permit the photographer to engage in the conduct which you contend causes the 
dignitary injury so long as the service was still provided and there was no 
material injury.  
Do you disagree with the NM Supreme Court on that point?  If not, I think the 
dignitary injury prong has to be rejected as a rationale to support the 
argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws.  That would 
leave your argument relying solely on the material injury prong (which is a 
topic for another thread).    
Stated another way, I'm having a hard time understanding the dignitary injury 
argument as anything other than a position that people should not have to hear 
certain viewpoints with which they disagree, even if goods and services are 
otherwise being provided.    
Will
 Will Esser 
Charlotte, North Carolina   From: Ira Lupu icl...@law.gwu.edu
 To: Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com 
Cc: Law  Religion Issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu 
 Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 10:38 PM
 Subject: Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights
   
The vendor does not have to be respectful of the beliefs of his customers. How 
would he know the content of those beliefs? But he cannot be disrespectful of 
the class of people to which the customers belong, or the class to which he 
thinks the customers belong, If those classes are protected by the 
antidiscrimination law. They are entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of 
the goods he is selling, without any selectivity based on their race, religion, 
etc. A bookstore owner can sell anti-Christian books, but he must offer to sell 
them to Christians and non-Christians alike.

Sent from my iPhone


On Apr 1, 2015, at 9:41 PM, Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com wrote:


Chip,
Thanks for the explanation, which is helpful.  But I want to push a little 
farther on this concept of dignitary injury.
You state that the dignitary injury is more serious because it has wounded 
the couple with this disrespect.  But how far can that argument really go?  
Are you saying that public non-discrimination laws not only require the 
provisions of goods and services to all comers, but also require that those 
services be provided in a way that will be viewed as respectful of the 
particular beliefs of the customers?  
If that is the case, does the photographer who has the Piss Christ photograph 
by Andres Serrano hanging on the wall of their shop (i.e. a photograph which 
very clearly singles out Christians for disrespect and dignitary injury) also 
run afoul of public non-discrimination laws even if the photographer is 
otherwise willing to perform photography services for Christians?  Or use the 
same example but substitute in the cover of the Charlie Hebdo magazine 
depicting the Prophet Muhammad?  
Mark pointed it out in several of his later posts, but I'm troubled about how 
this concept of dignitary injury logically plays out and whether your 
argument essentially means that anyone involved in businesses which provide 
public services are required to check their free speech and opinions at the 
door.  There are, after all, many categories of things that a business owner 
could say which would be gravely disrespectful and injure the dignity of 

Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws

2015-04-02 Thread Will Esser
Chip,
Thanks for that clarification.  For consistency then, does your position run 
both ways regardless of the viewpoint expressed?  For instance, given your view 
of dignitary injury, would it apply to prohibit the business owner who 
supports same-sex marriage from posting a sign that says: I believe that all 
marriage is equal and that same-sex sexual activity is every bit as good, moral 
and right as opposite same-sex sexual activity.  An evangelical Christian or 
Catholic upon seeing such a sign could very easily argue that such a statement 
disrespected their religion (which taught the opposite) and therefore they had 
suffered a dignitary injury based on the posting of the sign, thereby 
adversely affecting their equal enjoyment of the goods and services . . . 
.without discrimination on the basis of religion.   
(The same is true of my example with the photographer who proudly displays the 
Serano Piss Christ photograph in their studio.  It's hard to see how that 
would not constitute a dignitary injury to Christians which could affect 
their equal enjoyment of the goods and services provided by the 
photographer).  
Where do you draw the line on what viewpoints can be expressed and which cannot 
by the business owner?  
Will   Will Esser Charlotte, North Carolina
   From: Ira Lupu icl...@law.gwu.edu
 To: Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com 
Cc: Law  Religion Issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu 
 Sent: Thursday, April 2, 2015 7:38 AM
 Subject: Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to 
non-discrimination laws
   
I disagree with the New Mexico Supreme Court. Telling some customers that their 
business is unwelcome represents a denial of equal enjoyment of the goods and 
services . . . without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual 
orientation, et cetera.

Sent from my iPhone


On Apr 2, 2015, at 7:15 AM, Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com wrote:


Chip,
Your example misses my point, so let me restate.  Here is a recap of where I 
think we are:
1.  You argue against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws on two 
grounds, i.e. because of (a) material injury and (b) dignitary injury.2.  
The material injury is the lost opportunity to receive the good or service at 
the price or quality offered by a particular business.3.  The dignitary 
injury is (in your example) the wound to the dignity of the couple by having 
to hear a viewpoint from the business owner which they find offensive or with 
which they disagree.  
I'm pushing back, because I'm not sure that both of these prongs can be used to 
support your argument.  Let's assume the material injury prong is ABSENT in 
each situation so that we can just test the sufficiency of the dignitary 
injury prong (i.e. the wedding photographer WILL in fact provide photography 
services for both opposite and same-sex weddings, and the bookseller will sell 
anti-Christian books to everyone).   Let's go a step further and say that the 
speech which wounds the dignity of the couple is present in EVERY situation 
(i.e. the photographer notifies ALL her customers regarding her belief about 
the morality of same-sex marriage, not just same-sex couples).
As Mark pointed out, the New Mexico Supreme Court in Elane Photography appeared 
to accept the material injury argument as a basis for not granting a 
religious exemption to the local non-discrimination law, but not the dignitary 
injury argument.  It held that the photographer posting a sign in the studio 
stating her views about same-sex marriage was permissible, so long as she still 
made the service available.  In other words, the Court appeared to specifically 
permit the photographer to engage in the conduct which you contend causes the 
dignitary injury so long as the service was still provided and there was no 
material injury.  
Do you disagree with the NM Supreme Court on that point?  If not, I think the 
dignitary injury prong has to be rejected as a rationale to support the 
argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws.  That would 
leave your argument relying solely on the material injury prong (which is a 
topic for another thread).    
Stated another way, I'm having a hard time understanding the dignitary injury 
argument as anything other than a position that people should not have to hear 
certain viewpoints with which they disagree, even if goods and services are 
otherwise being provided.    
Will
 Will Esser 
Charlotte, North Carolina   From: Ira Lupu icl...@law.gwu.edu
 To: Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com 
Cc: Law  Religion Issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu 
 Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 10:38 PM
 Subject: Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights
   
The vendor does not have to be respectful of the beliefs of his customers. How 
would he know the content of those beliefs? But he cannot be disrespectful of 
the class of people to which the customers belong, or the class to which he 

Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread Marty Lederman
I agree with Doug that this academic discussion is and will be overtaken by
much more powerful political and social forces.  Even so, I'm curious about
how he and other would draw the lines he's proposing.  What are those few
cases where religious exemptions make sense?  Only cases that somehow
implicate matters going to the core of [the vendors'] identity?  Would
that be the test?  (presumably not, since I can't imagine Doug wanting
judges to adjudicate what's a religious core).  Only discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation, but not other prohibited grounds?  (If so,
why?)  Only cases raising the sorts of free *speech *claims that others
have been discussing?

If one moves from the generalities of a RFRA-ish test, and if one does not
draft the exemption along some sort of *institutional *line (e.g.,
nonprofits with some sort of described religious character), it turns out
to be awfully difficult for any of us, let alone a consensus of
legislators, to describe the specific cases that should and should not be
exempted, beyond the exemptions that everyone approves, such as ministers'
involvement in religious ceremonies.

On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 2:40 PM, Doug Laycock dlayc...@virginia.edu wrote:

 Things are moving much too fast in Indiana for a group of sixteen to take
 any position on the fix. And heavy duty political forces are now in play on
 both sides that render academic information pretty much irrelevant.



 I agree with Tom that a far better fix would be a strong gay-rights law
 with religious exemptions. Those could be provided under a state RFRA, or
 better yet, specifically negotiated to cover only those few cases where
 religious exemptions make sense. Then we wouldn’t have to argue about
 whether the general language of a RFRA might some day be interpreted to
 create an exemption that went too far. The Utah law is a step in the right
 direction, but it doesn’t cover all the ground.



 But we apparently can’t negotiate that deal, because the two sides are too
 far apart, too polarized, and too mistrustful. Much of the conservative
 religious community doesn’t want any gay rights law at all, and they
 apparently can’t enact one in Indiana. And much of the gay rights community
 increasingly appears to oppose any exemption of any kind, except for the
 clergy officiating at the wedding. If the two sides would acknowledge that
 folks on the other side deserve liberty with respect to matters going to
 the core of their identity, solutions would be possible. But that
 prerequisite appears to be missing.







 Douglas Laycock

 Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law

 University of Virginia Law School

 580 Massie Road

 Charlottesville, VA  22903

  434-243-8546



 *From:* religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:
 religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] *On Behalf Of *Berg, Thomas C.
 *Sent:* Thursday, April 02, 2015 1:11 PM
 *To:* Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
 *Subject:* RE: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing



 The fix preserves the ability of nonprofit religious institutions to have
 their claims heard under the state RFRA, which in my view is correct. Of
 course that will not be a stable resolution in blue states now, and many on
 the list would oppose allowing those claims to be raised.



 In my view, the best fix would have been to provide statewide
 anti-discrimination protection based on sexual orientation, and let claims
 continue to be raised under the state RFRA. That would do far more for
 same-sex couples, especially in rural areas where they face the most
 prejudice, than this does. And as we predicted in our original letter, the
 only commercial claims with even a possibility of being granted would be
 the small wedding vendors (and those would be doubtful). But I gather
 Republicans did not support expanding the anti-discrimination law, and I
 assume Democrats wouldn’t have taken the deal either. The focus has been on
 the state RFRA even though, as to commercial discrimination cases, its
 effect is largely symbolic.



 This episode could work to hamper the strategy of addressing this conflict
 through exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. But that’s not going to
 do much to get anti-discrimination laws passed in red states in the first
 place.



 -

 Thomas C. Berg

 James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy

 University of St. Thomas School of Law

 MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue

 Minneapolis, MN   55403-2015

 Phone: (651) 962-4918

 Fax: (651) 962-4996

 E-mail: tcb...@stthomas.edu

 SSRN: http://ssrn.com/author=261564

 Weblog: http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com
 http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice


 



 *From:* religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [
 mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu
 religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] *On Behalf Of *James Oleske
 *Sent:* Thursday, April 02, 2015 

Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread James Oleske
After lots of testimony in favor of the fix by members of the business
community, Advance America's Eric Miller made the case against the fix at
length, repeatedly citing the letter signed by 16 law professors in favor
of the Indiana RFRA.

I'm guessing that, while many of those law professors think the fix is
unnecessary, some of them might not join Miller in actively opposing the
fix. Miller has championed RFRA for the very specific reason that he
believes it would provide clear protection to businesses that refuse to
provide marriage-related services to same-sex couples, but the
law-professor letter he invokes does not portray that protection as clearly
forthcoming under RFRA (But whatever one thinks of the arguments for and
against exempting such individuals, it is not at all clear that the
proposed Indiana RFRA would lead courts to recognize such an exemption
[E]ven had the New Mexico RFRA applied [to the claim in Elane Photography],
the New Mexico Supreme Court ... would likely have held that enforcement of
the anti-discrimination laws served a compelling interest by the least
restrictive means.).

As some of the professors who supported the original Indiana RFRA are list
participants, I'm wondering if they think my perception is correct. Are any
planning to actively support or oppose the fix?

We also have list participants who signed a letter opposing the original
Indiana RFRA, and it would be interesting to hear from them whether they
plan to actively support or oppose the fix.

- Jim

On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 7:33 AM, James Oleske jole...@lclark.edu wrote:

 The text of the fix is here:
 http://t.co/58d1K81D1L

 It provides that the RFRA does not:

 (1) authorize a provider to refuse to offer or provide services,
 facilities, use of public accommodations, goods, employment, or housing to
 any member or members of the general public on the basis of race, color,
 religion, ancestry, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual
 orientation, gender identity, or United States military service;

 (2) establish a defense to a civil action or criminal prosecution for
 refusal by a provider to offer or provide services, facilities, use of
 public accommodations, goods, employment, or housing to any member or
 members of the general public on the basis of race, color, religion,
 ancestry, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender
 identity, or United States military service”

 The measure exempts tax-exempt churches, non profit religious
 organizations and societies, including church affiliated schools, as well
 as ministers of churches or nonprofit religious organizations.

 The hearing on the fix is streaming live here:
  http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/session/senate_video_archive/





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Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights

2015-04-02 Thread Rick Garnett
Dear Nelson,

I don't see that the Hobby Lobby Court reaffirmed the principle against
burden-shifting in religion accommodations or that Justice Kennedy made
it central to his vote if by principle here you mean the argument --
which, of course, you and several others have very ably developed and
expounded -- that the Establishment Clause rules out (all?) legislative
accommodations that involve or impose third-party costs (on specific,
identifiable third parties).  (I ask about all because my recollection is
that you have said that the accommodation at issue in Amos was / is
permissible.)  Justice Ginsburg notes in a footnote that the government’s
license to grant religion-based exemptions from generally applicable laws
is constrained by the Establishment Clause but, it seems to me, she did
not rely on this point in her dissent, which seemed to me to be more about
RFRA's particular elements.  Justice Kennedy says, in his penultimate
paragraph, [y]et neither may that same exercise unduly restrict other
persons, such as employees, in protecting their own interests, interests
the law deems compelling[,] but he seems to be doing so in the context of
applying what he and the Court call RFRA's stringent test and not
necessarily to be invoking an Establishment Clause constraint.  And,
Justice Alito does not mention the Establishment Clause at all.

I also continue to think -- although the conversation about the rule you
and other leading scholars propose is very important -- that it is not
quite the case that the case law in both areas is lopsided in favor of the
principle -- again, if the principle is the fairly strong Establishment
Clause constraint you all have proposed -- but . . . disagreement among
colleagues helps make life interesting and I guess we just understand
Caldor and Cutter differently. Marc DeGirolami's discussion (here:
http://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2013/12/exemptions-from-the-mandate-do-not-violate-the-establishment-clause.html)
and Eugene Volokh's (here:
http://volokh.com/2013/12/04/3b-granting-exemption-employer-mandate-violate-establishment-clause/)
were, for me, helpful.

With respect to your (and others') Establishment Clause argument, I do have
a quick question.  (I am sorry if I am forgetting an answer that you have
already presented in your scholarship!)  Do you think we should think of
the no-burden-shifting rule as applying, in a sense, only *after* we have
identified whatever limits on government regulation the First Amendment
might require (e.g., the ministerial exception), and as applying only as a
constraint on discretionary accommodations, or should we think of the rule
as kicking in earlier, and as helping to fix the point where the First
Amendment rights of, say, Hosanna-Tabor school end?  Or does it not
matter?  Again, please feel free just to refer me to something else.

All the best,

Rick


Richard W. Garnett

Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Political Science

Director, Program on Church, State  Society

Notre Dame Law School

P.O. Box 780

Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-0780

574-631-6981 (w)

574-276-2252 (cell)

rgarn...@nd.edu



To download my scholarly papers, please visit my SSRN page
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=342235



Blogs:



Prawfsblawg http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/

Mirror of Justice http://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/



Twitter:  @RickGarnett https://twitter.com/RickGarnett

On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 7:07 PM, Nelson Tebbe nelson.te...@brooklaw.edu
wrote:



  Thanks, Alan. Speaking again only for myself, I am open to some
 balancing, not only as to this particular principle (against burden
 shifting to third parties) but also as a general methodology, as you know.
 But the conversation is not yet at that point. Right now, the main debate
 is over whether the principle even exists in constitutional law, and what
 its most basic applications might be, not over its contours. As a matter of
 doctrine, the Hobby Lobby Court reaffirmed the principle against
 burden-shifting in religion accommodations, and Justice Kennedy made it
 central to his vote, but there is some troubling language in the opinion
 (see, e.g., footnote 37 and the sharp division between RFRA and pre-Smith
 cases). As a matter of application, the Hobby Lobby Court did not make its
 ruling contingent on the absence of harm to third parties. And in fact
 employees of Hobby Lobby continue to be harmed right now. And as a matter
 of theory, finally, prominent scholars continue to deny that the principle
 exists and has legal status, under either free exercise or
 nonestablishment, despite the fact that the case law in both areas is
 lopsided in favor of the principle. But again my basic answer is yes, I am
 open to that approach.

  On Apr 1, 2015, at 5:46 PM, Alan E Brownstein aebrownst...@ucdavis.edu
 wrote:

   I appreciate your point, Nelson. And I think the principle
 that private citizens should not have to bear the costs associated with
 

Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread James Oleske
The text of the fix is here:
http://t.co/58d1K81D1L

It provides that the RFRA does not:

(1) authorize a provider to refuse to offer or provide services,
facilities, use of public accommodations, goods, employment, or housing to
any member or members of the general public on the basis of race, color,
religion, ancestry, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, or United States military service;

(2) establish a defense to a civil action or criminal prosecution for
refusal by a provider to offer or provide services, facilities, use of
public accommodations, goods, employment, or housing to any member or
members of the general public on the basis of race, color, religion,
ancestry, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender
identity, or United States military service”

The measure exempts tax-exempt churches, non profit religious organizations
and societies, including church affiliated schools, as well as ministers of
churches or nonprofit religious organizations.

The hearing on the fix is streaming live here:
 http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/session/senate_video_archive/
___
To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see 
http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw

Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private.  
Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can 
read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the 
messages to others.

Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws

2015-04-02 Thread Will Esser
Thanks Chip.  Looks like your last post to me was not copied to the list, so 
I've copied here for the benefit of all.  
Your point about permissible legislative decisions on opt-outs is a good one, 
and the concept of allowing religious opt-outs conditioned on posting a sign 
notifying the public about the religious opt-out in order to avoid dignitary 
injury issues seems like a fair compromise position.  It certainly seems like 
it would remove the dignitary injury issue from the equation, and could 
represent the legislature's determination that the material injury by itself 
was not significant enough (given the general availability of goods and 
services in the marketplace otherwise) to negate the importance of religious 
exemptions.  
I haven't seen that particular compromise proposed in any of the discussed 
legislation, but it is a concept worth further thought.  
Same best wishes to you and yours.  May all those with strong feelings on these 
topics be willing to rationally debate the issues in the same manner as those 
on this list and focus on arriving at a resolution which respects the interests 
of all involved in our diverse society.  
Will
Will Esser 
Charlotte, North Carolina   From: Ira Lupu icl...@law.gwu.edu
 To: Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com 
 Sent: Thursday, April 2, 2015 9:28 AM
 Subject: Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to 
non-discrimination laws
   
That's a good question, Will.  Before I answer, let me clarify that the 
legislature can permit the disclaiming sign (We serve all, but we are opposed 
to same sex marriage.)  The legislature can also permit religious opt-outs 
from serving all, on the condition that a sign be posted, so as to spare same 
sex couples the embarrassment and dignitary injury of walking in and then being 
turned away.  These are discretionary legislative decisions, neither required 
not forbidden by the First A.
Where to draw the line about vendor expression in the workplace? Certainly not 
over the goods that are being sold -- ham or kosher meat; Piss Christ copies 
or reverent Christmas cards.  That's what is for sale, for all who want to 
purchase.
So we're left with the cases of messages (not goods for sale) that express 
borderline hostility to some customers, and now the line is hard to draw - 
Confederate flags on the wall?  Quasi-pornographic photos of women?  No easy 
answers here, any more than there are in borderline hostile environment cases 
of sexual harassment in the workplace.  I would suggest something like if the 
reasonable customer would be made to feel unwelcome, on the basis of race, etc, 
by the message(s) [NOT by the goods for sale], then the message is inconsistent 
with a law of non-discrimination.  I know that will leave grey areas and 
uncertainty.  But that doesn't bother me, because this is speech zoning -- the 
same vendor can fly Confederate flags at home, speak out in political fora 
against same sex marriage, etc.  I can't do better than this in the abstract.  
I don't expect to persuade you.  But I do think that the argument that people 
have a right to bring their religion into their business (by all means, sell 
Christmas ornaments and Passover Matzoh; close on your Sabbath) can be blocked 
with an argument that says not if the expression of their religion to 
customers is in effect an attempt to deny equal access to goods and services to 
a class of people protected by civil rights laws.
Passover, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday coming up -- peace, hope, and freedom 
to all on the list, whether or not you recognize or celebrate any of those 
holidays.


On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 8:30 AM, Will Esser willes...@yahoo.com wrote:

Chip,
Thanks for that clarification.  For consistency then, does your position run 
both ways regardless of the viewpoint expressed?  For instance, given your view 
of dignitary injury, would it apply to prohibit the business owner who 
supports same-sex marriage from posting a sign that says: I believe that all 
marriage is equal and that same-sex sexual activity is every bit as good, moral 
and right as opposite same-sex sexual activity.  An evangelical Christian or 
Catholic upon seeing such a sign could very easily argue that such a statement 
disrespected their religion (which taught the opposite) and therefore they had 
suffered a dignitary injury based on the posting of the sign, thereby 
adversely affecting their equal enjoyment of the goods and services . . . 
.without discrimination on the basis of religion.   
(The same is true of my example with the photographer who proudly displays the 
Serano Piss Christ photograph in their studio.  It's hard to see how that 
would not constitute a dignitary injury to Christians which could affect 
their equal enjoyment of the goods and services provided by the 
photographer).  
Where do you draw the line on what viewpoints can be expressed and which cannot 
by the business owner?  
Will   Will Esser Charlotte, North 

RE: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread Berg, Thomas C.
The fix preserves the ability of nonprofit religious institutions to have their 
claims heard under the state RFRA, which in my view is correct. Of course that 
will not be a stable resolution in blue states now, and many on the list would 
oppose allowing those claims to be raised.

In my view, the best fix would have been to provide statewide 
anti-discrimination protection based on sexual orientation, and let claims 
continue to be raised under the state RFRA. That would do far more for same-sex 
couples, especially in rural areas where they face the most prejudice, than 
this does. And as we predicted in our original letter, the only commercial 
claims with even a possibility of being granted would be the small wedding 
vendors (and those would be doubtful). But I gather Republicans did not support 
expanding the anti-discrimination law, and I assume Democrats wouldn’t have 
taken the deal either. The focus has been on the state RFRA even though, as to 
commercial discrimination cases, its effect is largely symbolic.

This episode could work to hamper the strategy of addressing this conflict 
through exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. But that’s not going to do 
much to get anti-discrimination laws passed in red states in the first place.

-
Thomas C. Berg
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy
University of St. Thomas School of Law
MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN   55403-2015
Phone: (651) 962-4918
Fax: (651) 962-4996
E-mail: tcb...@stthomas.edumailto:tcb...@stthomas.edu
SSRN: http://ssrn.com/author=261564
Weblog: 
http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.comhttp://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice


From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu 
[mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of James Oleske
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 10:31 AM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

After lots of testimony in favor of the fix by members of the business 
community, Advance America's Eric Miller made the case against the fix at 
length, repeatedly citing the letter signed by 16 law professors in favor of 
the Indiana RFRA.
I'm guessing that, while many of those law professors think the fix is 
unnecessary, some of them might not join Miller in actively opposing the fix. 
Miller has championed RFRA for the very specific reason that he believes it 
would provide clear protection to businesses that refuse to provide 
marriage-related services to same-sex couples, but the law-professor letter he 
invokes does not portray that protection as clearly forthcoming under RFRA 
(But whatever one thinks of the arguments for and against exempting such 
individuals, it is not at all clear that the proposed Indiana RFRA would lead 
courts to recognize such an exemption [E]ven had the New Mexico RFRA 
applied [to the claim in Elane Photography], the New Mexico Supreme Court ... 
would likely have held that enforcement of the anti-discrimination laws served 
a compelling interest by the least restrictive means.).
As some of the professors who supported the original Indiana RFRA are list 
participants, I'm wondering if they think my perception is correct. Are any 
planning to actively support or oppose the fix?
We also have list participants who signed a letter opposing the original 
Indiana RFRA, and it would be interesting to hear from them whether they plan 
to actively support or oppose the fix.

- Jim

On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 7:33 AM, James Oleske 
jole...@lclark.edumailto:jole...@lclark.edu wrote:
The text of the fix is here:
http://t.co/58d1K81D1L
It provides that the RFRA does not:
(1) authorize a provider to refuse to offer or provide services, facilities, 
use of public accommodations, goods, employment, or housing to any member or 
members of the general public on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, 
age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or 
United States military service;

(2) establish a defense to a civil action or criminal prosecution for refusal 
by a provider to offer or provide services, facilities, use of public 
accommodations, goods, employment, or housing to any member or members of the 
general public on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, age, national 
origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or United States 
military service”

The measure exempts tax-exempt churches, non profit religious organizations and 
societies, including church affiliated schools, as well as ministers of 
churches or nonprofit religious organizations.
The hearing on the fix is streaming live here:
 http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/session/senate_video_archive/




___
To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, 

Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights

2015-04-02 Thread Micah Schwartzman
Rick,

In Hobby Lobby, the majority says: It is certainly true that in applying RFRA 
“courts must take adequate account of the burdens a requested accommodation may 
impose on nonbeneficiaries.” Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. 709, 720 (2005) 
(applying RLUIPA). That sentence quoted from Cutter relies on Caldor. These are 
both Establishment Clauses cases articulating a limit on permissive 
accommodations. 

We can argue about the scope of that limit, but as Nelson said earlier, it is 
surprising to see such resistance to even the general form of it. 

Micah

On Apr 2, 2015, at 10:33 AM, Rick Garnett rgarn...@nd.edu wrote:

 Dear Nelson,
 
 I don't see that the Hobby Lobby Court reaffirmed the principle against 
 burden-shifting in religion accommodations or that Justice Kennedy made it 
 central to his vote if by principle here you mean the argument -- which, 
 of course, you and several others have very ably developed and expounded -- 
 that the Establishment Clause rules out (all?) legislative accommodations 
 that involve or impose third-party costs (on specific, identifiable third 
 parties).  (I ask about all because my recollection is that you have said 
 that the accommodation at issue in Amos was / is permissible.)  Justice 
 Ginsburg notes in a footnote that the government’s license to grant 
 religion-based exemptions from generally applicable laws is constrained by 
 the Establishment Clause but, it seems to me, she did not rely on this point 
 in her dissent, which seemed to me to be more about RFRA's particular 
 elements.  Justice Kennedy says, in his penultimate paragraph, [y]et neither 
 may that same exercise unduly restrict other persons, such as employees, in 
 protecting their own interests, interests the law deems compelling[,] but he 
 seems to be doing so in the context of applying what he and the Court call 
 RFRA's stringent test and not necessarily to be invoking an Establishment 
 Clause constraint.  And, Justice Alito does not mention the Establishment 
 Clause at all.  
 
 I also continue to think -- although the conversation about the rule you and 
 other leading scholars propose is very important -- that it is not quite the 
 case that the case law in both areas is lopsided in favor of the principle 
 -- again, if the principle is the fairly strong Establishment Clause 
 constraint you all have proposed -- but . . . disagreement among colleagues 
 helps make life interesting and I guess we just understand Caldor and Cutter 
 differently. Marc DeGirolami's discussion (here:  
 http://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2013/12/exemptions-from-the-mandate-do-not-violate-the-establishment-clause.html)
  and Eugene Volokh's (here: 
 http://volokh.com/2013/12/04/3b-granting-exemption-employer-mandate-violate-establishment-clause/)
  were, for me, helpful.
 
 With respect to your (and others') Establishment Clause argument, I do have a 
 quick question.  (I am sorry if I am forgetting an answer that you have 
 already presented in your scholarship!)  Do you think we should think of the 
 no-burden-shifting rule as applying, in a sense, only *after* we have 
 identified whatever limits on government regulation the First Amendment might 
 require (e.g., the ministerial exception), and as applying only as a 
 constraint on discretionary accommodations, or should we think of the rule as 
 kicking in earlier, and as helping to fix the point where the First 
 Amendment rights of, say, Hosanna-Tabor school end?  Or does it not matter?  
 Again, please feel free just to refer me to something else.
 
 All the best,
 
 Rick   
 
 
 Richard W. Garnett
 Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Political Science
 Director, Program on Church, State  Society
 Notre Dame Law School
 P.O. Box 780
 Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-0780
 574-631-6981 (w)
 574-276-2252 (cell)
 rgarn...@nd.edu
  
 To download my scholarly papers, please visit my SSRN page
  
 Blogs:
  
 Prawfsblawg
 Mirror of Justice
  
 
 Twitter:  @RickGarnett
 
 On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 7:07 PM, Nelson Tebbe nelson.te...@brooklaw.edu 
 wrote:
 
 
 Thanks, Alan. Speaking again only for myself, I am open to some balancing, 
 not only as to this particular principle (against burden shifting to third 
 parties) but also as a general methodology, as you know. But the conversation 
 is not yet at that point. Right now, the main debate is over whether the 
 principle even exists in constitutional law, and what its most basic 
 applications might be, not over its contours. As a matter of doctrine, the 
 Hobby Lobby Court reaffirmed the principle against burden-shifting in 
 religion accommodations, and Justice Kennedy made it central to his vote, but 
 there is some troubling language in the opinion (see, e.g., footnote 37 and 
 the sharp division between RFRA and pre-Smith cases). As a matter of 
 application, the Hobby Lobby Court did not make its ruling contingent on the 
 absence of harm to third parties. And in fact employees of 

RE: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

2015-04-02 Thread Doug Laycock
Things are moving much too fast in Indiana for a group of sixteen to take any 
position on the fix. And heavy duty political forces are now in play on both 
sides that render academic information pretty much irrelevant. 

 

I agree with Tom that a far better fix would be a strong gay-rights law with 
religious exemptions. Those could be provided under a state RFRA, or better 
yet, specifically negotiated to cover only those few cases where religious 
exemptions make sense. Then we wouldn’t have to argue about whether the general 
language of a RFRA might some day be interpreted to create an exemption that 
went too far. The Utah law is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t 
cover all the ground.

 

But we apparently can’t negotiate that deal, because the two sides are too far 
apart, too polarized, and too mistrustful. Much of the conservative religious 
community doesn’t want any gay rights law at all, and they apparently can’t 
enact one in Indiana. And much of the gay rights community increasingly appears 
to oppose any exemption of any kind, except for the clergy officiating at the 
wedding. If the two sides would acknowledge that folks on the other side 
deserve liberty with respect to matters going to the core of their identity, 
solutions would be possible. But that prerequisite appears to be missing. 

 

 

 

Douglas Laycock

Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law

University of Virginia Law School

580 Massie Road

Charlottesville, VA  22903

 434-243-8546

 

From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu 
[mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Berg, Thomas C.
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 1:11 PM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: RE: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

 

The fix preserves the ability of nonprofit religious institutions to have their 
claims heard under the state RFRA, which in my view is correct. Of course that 
will not be a stable resolution in blue states now, and many on the list would 
oppose allowing those claims to be raised. 

 

In my view, the best fix would have been to provide statewide 
anti-discrimination protection based on sexual orientation, and let claims 
continue to be raised under the state RFRA. That would do far more for same-sex 
couples, especially in rural areas where they face the most prejudice, than 
this does. And as we predicted in our original letter, the only commercial 
claims with even a possibility of being granted would be the small wedding 
vendors (and those would be doubtful). But I gather Republicans did not support 
expanding the anti-discrimination law, and I assume Democrats wouldn’t have 
taken the deal either. The focus has been on the state RFRA even though, as to 
commercial discrimination cases, its effect is largely symbolic.

 

This episode could work to hamper the strategy of addressing this conflict 
through exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. But that’s not going to do 
much to get anti-discrimination laws passed in red states in the first place.

 

-

Thomas C. Berg

James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy

University of St. Thomas School of Law

MSL 400, 1000 LaSalle Avenue

Minneapolis, MN   55403-2015

Phone: (651) 962-4918

Fax: (651) 962-4996

E-mail: tcb...@stthomas.edu mailto:tcb...@stthomas.edu 

SSRN: http://ssrn.com/author=261564

Weblog: http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com 
http://www.mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice 



 

From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu 
mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu  
[mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of James Oleske
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 10:31 AM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Text of Indiana RFRA Fix; Video of Hearing

 

After lots of testimony in favor of the fix by members of the business 
community, Advance America's Eric Miller made the case against the fix at 
length, repeatedly citing the letter signed by 16 law professors in favor of 
the Indiana RFRA. 

I'm guessing that, while many of those law professors think the fix is 
unnecessary, some of them might not join Miller in actively opposing the fix. 
Miller has championed RFRA for the very specific reason that he believes it 
would provide clear protection to businesses that refuse to provide 
marriage-related services to same-sex couples, but the law-professor letter he 
invokes does not portray that protection as clearly forthcoming under RFRA 
(But whatever one thinks of the arguments for and against exempting such 
individuals, it is not at all clear that the proposed Indiana RFRA would lead 
courts to recognize such an exemption [E]ven had the New Mexico RFRA 
applied [to the claim in Elane Photography], the New Mexico Supreme Court ... 
would likely have held that enforcement of the anti-discrimination laws served 
a compelling interest by 

RE: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to non-discrimination laws

2015-04-02 Thread Alan E Brownstein
Will and Chip’s exchange ended on such a thoughtful and positive note (which I 
greatly appreciate)  that I hesitate to add another post to this thread out of 
fear it might break the spell.

I agree with Will and Chip’s discussion about when and whether speech by itself 
constitutes discrimination for the purposes of civil rights laws.

When we are talking about exemptions from anti-discrimination laws, however, 
the core issue isn’t  dignitary harms that result from a proprietor’s speech. 
It is dignitary harms that result from the proprietor’s conduct. (I assume we 
all agree that a discriminatory refusal to serve a customer or to hire a job 
applicant is conduct and not speech.)

And while both speech and conduct can cause dignitary harms, we typically don’t 
equate the two and excuse the latter because we would tolerate the former. I 
may have no recourse if someone insults me because I’m a Jew. Indeed, the 
person insulting has a First Amendment right to express anti-Semitic 
statements. But if he spits on my  shirt or knocks my yarmulke off my head 
(which given my bald head takes very little force), I may not be able to get a 
pound of flesh for redress, but I can sue the person for battery – even though 
my injuries are essentially dignitary harms.

Similarly, a Nazi can parade up and down the street with a sign with a swastika 
on it in front of my synagogue. But if he draws the swastika on my synagogue’s 
wall, it is trespass and vandalism and possible a hate crime. Again, the 
primary affront is a dignitary harm, but we draw a sharp distinction between 
dignitary harms caused by speech alone and dignitary harms caused by conduct or 
caused by messages expressed through conduct.

Indeed, part of the way I understand the sharpness of this distinction is that 
we protect hurtful speech – even though we have real concerns about the harm 
the speech causes -- because we mistrust government and value unfettered public 
debate. But we tell people whose conduct inflicts dignitary harms on others: Do 
not misunderstand our tolerance of your speech. We do care about dignitary 
harms. We allow you to cause  them because of the importance of freedom of 
speech – not because we doubt the injury caused by dignitary harm. Accordingly, 
if you move outside of the sphere of protected speech and engage in conduct 
that causes dignitary harm, you can be sanctioned for doing so.

Under this analysis, it would be a mistake to argue that the affront and insult 
to dignity experienced by people who are discriminated against by being denied 
service in a place of public accommodation cannot justify the government 
prohibiting such discrimination because a similar affront to their dignity 
would be tolerated (indeed, arguably protected) if it was communicated through 
speech alone.

And let me join Will and Chip in wishing everyone who celebrates Easter a Happy 
Easter, everyone who celebrates Passover a Happy Passover and everyone who 
celebrates neither a Happy Spring.

Alan


From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu 
[mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Will Esser
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 6:58 AM
To: Ira Lupu; Law  Religion Issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to 
non-discrimination laws

Thanks Chip.  Looks like your last post to me was not copied to the list, so 
I've copied here for the benefit of all.

Your point about permissible legislative decisions on opt-outs is a good one, 
and the concept of allowing religious opt-outs conditioned on posting a sign 
notifying the public about the religious opt-out in order to avoid dignitary 
injury issues seems like a fair compromise position.  It certainly seems like 
it would remove the dignitary injury issue from the equation, and could 
represent the legislature's determination that the material injury by itself 
was not significant enough (given the general availability of goods and 
services in the marketplace otherwise) to negate the importance of religious 
exemptions.

I haven't seen that particular compromise proposed in any of the discussed 
legislation, but it is a concept worth further thought.

Same best wishes to you and yours.  May all those with strong feelings on these 
topics be willing to rationally debate the issues in the same manner as those 
on this list and focus on arriving at a resolution which respects the interests 
of all involved in our diverse society.

Will

Will Esser
Charlotte, North Carolina


From: Ira Lupu icl...@law.gwu.edumailto:icl...@law.gwu.edu
To: Will Esser willes...@yahoo.commailto:willes...@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, April 2, 2015 9:28 AM
Subject: Re: Dignitary Injury as an argument against religious exemptions to 
non-discrimination laws

That's a good question, Will.  Before I answer, let me clarify that the 
legislature can permit the disclaiming sign (We serve all, but we are opposed 
to same sex 

Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights

2015-04-02 Thread Scarberry, Mark
Let's see what Chip and I seem to agree on, and then I'll express my strong 
disagreement on one point.

We seem to agree that the wedding photographer creates art. It is hard to see 
how visual portrayals of an event can convey a message of beauty and 
authenticity and not be called art. Indeed it would seem to be celebratory art, 
as I've been saying all along, if it deals with beauty and authenticity.

We seem to agree that the wedding photographer (if she can be required to 
photograph the same sex ceremony) cannot (as a colleague put it off list) 
sabotage the photography, by intentionally portraying the ceremony as ugly or 
false (in the sense that the two persons are insincere or that the ceremony 
doesn't have whatever legal effect the law provides). I suppose I'd go further 
and say that the photographer has to use the same high-quality equipment that 
she normally would use, has to take photos from the normal angles, and has to 
fix red-eye problems and similar problems before sending the proofs to the 
clients for their selection.

I can't agree that the photographer can be required to create visual works that 
portray the ceremony as beautiful (or authentic, if that means posing the 
couple so as to bring out their sincere commitment to each other). The state 
may be able to require her to photograph the ceremony, but it can't require her 
to express the view that the ceremony is beautiful. The state has no business 
deciding what is beautiful or requiring people to create expressive works that 
carry a message of beauty, any more than it can require people to express the 
view that the state is good and the laws just. The state may not prescribe 
orthodoxy as to the beautiful, the true, or the good; any other view takes us a 
step on the road to tyranny (or, in the extreme, to totalitarianism) which Chip 
obviously would not endorse).

With regard to Ollie's Barbecue, we may disagree about the ways in which Ollie 
may express his political and social views, but surely he can't intentionally 
spoil the food, just as the photographer can't intentionally spoil the photos.

A key difference for other purposes is that Ollie is not in the business of 
creating expressive works; the requirement that he sell food of the same 
quality to all comers doesn't raise compelled speech issues. He has much less 
need to express his political and social views in the restaurant to avoid 
becoming the state's mouthpiece, because he isn't being required to say 
anything that would appear to be his own speech. (He could be required to post 
a sign saying that the state requires all customers to be served, without 
respect to race etc., but that would identify the message as coming from the 
state.)

Nor is Ollie required to be involved personally in the intimate lives of his 
customers, the way a wedding photographer (or wedding planner) ordinarily is 
with the couple. That raises separate free exercise issues in the wedding 
photography case for a photographer who believes it is wrong (as a matter of 
conventional religion or its equivalent per the Seeger case) to facilitate a 
same-sex marriage. And perhaps it creates a hybrid rights situation per Smith.

Of course it's also easier for the state to tell whether Ollie burns the food 
or includes noxious ingredients than it is for the state to determine whether a 
photographer has sufficiently expressed the state's (or the clients') views as 
to beauty and truth. That implicates not only practical concerns but also the 
degree of vagueness of the law and the degree of discretion given to officials 
who would police the photographer's use of her First Amendment rights.

Mark

Mark S. Scarberry
Pepperdine University School of Law


Sent from my iPad

On Apr 1, 2015, at 6:03 PM, Ira Lupu 
icl...@law.gwu.edumailto:icl...@law.gwu.edu wrote:

No, I don't think that's OK.  But that's a real compelled speech problem, where 
the student must first utter the Pledge.

The wedding vendors do not have to say anything approving about the marriage, 
or affirm its validity in the eyes of the state or God.  They do have to 
provide goods and services; in the photographer's case, the services include 
making the wedding look authentic and beautiful, not ugly or false.  So the 
compelled speech concern seems much weaker to me than in Barnette.

On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 8:53 PM, Scarberry, Mark 
mark.scarbe...@pepperdine.edumailto:mark.scarbe...@pepperdine.edu wrote:
Apart from the other points with which I disagree:

Wow, Chip. You really think it’s OK to make the student recite the Pledge, as 
long as the student is permitted at the end to say “I don’t mean it”? Can I be 
required to burn a pinch of incense to the emperor as long as I am permitted 
afterwards to say that the emperor isn’t really a god?

Mark

Mark S. Scarberry
Professor of Law
Pepperdine Univ. School of Law



From: 
religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edumailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu 

Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights

2015-04-02 Thread Marc DeGirolami
Micah, nobody I know who is resisting the third party Establishment Clause 
theory that you, Nelson, and others have created based on “the general form” of 
a constitutional limit on religious accommodation. RFRA  incorporates the 
general form of such a limit.

Marc


From: Micah Schwartzman mj...@virginia.edumailto:mj...@virginia.edu
Reply-To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics 
religionlaw@lists.ucla.edumailto:religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 1:40 PM
To: Law  Religion issues for Law Academics 
religionlaw@lists.ucla.edumailto:religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: Eugene's Blog Post on Liberals and Exemption Rights

Rick,

In Hobby Lobby, the majority says: It is certainly true that in applying RFRA 
“courts must take adequate account of the burdens a requested accommodation may 
impose on nonbeneficiaries.” Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. 
709http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt//text/544/709, 720 (2005) 
(applying RLUIPA). That sentence quoted from Cutter relies on Caldor. These are 
both Establishment Clauses cases articulating a limit on permissive 
accommodations.

We can argue about the scope of that limit, but as Nelson said earlier, it is 
surprising to see such resistance to even the general form of it.

Micah

On Apr 2, 2015, at 10:33 AM, Rick Garnett 
rgarn...@nd.edumailto:rgarn...@nd.edu wrote:

Dear Nelson,

I don't see that the Hobby Lobby Court reaffirmed the principle against 
burden-shifting in religion accommodations or that Justice Kennedy made it 
central to his vote if by principle here you mean the argument -- which, of 
course, you and several others have very ably developed and expounded -- that 
the Establishment Clause rules out (all?) legislative accommodations that 
involve or impose third-party costs (on specific, identifiable third parties).  
(I ask about all because my recollection is that you have said that the 
accommodation at issue in Amos was / is permissible.)  Justice Ginsburg notes 
in a footnote that the government’s license to grant religion-based exemptions 
from generally applicable laws is constrained by the Establishment Clause but, 
it seems to me, she did not rely on this point in her dissent, which seemed to 
me to be more about RFRA's particular elements.  Justice Kennedy says, in his 
penultimate paragraph, [y]et neither may that same exercise unduly restrict 
other persons, such as employees, in protecting their own interests, interests 
the law deems compelling[,] but he seems to be doing so in the context of 
applying what he and the Court call RFRA's stringent test and not necessarily 
to be invoking an Establishment Clause constraint.  And, Justice Alito does not 
mention the Establishment Clause at all.

I also continue to think -- although the conversation about the rule you and 
other leading scholars propose is very important -- that it is not quite the 
case that the case law in both areas is lopsided in favor of the principle -- 
again, if the principle is the fairly strong Establishment Clause constraint 
you all have proposed -- but . . . disagreement among colleagues helps make 
life interesting and I guess we just understand Caldor and Cutter differently. 
Marc DeGirolami's discussion (here:  
http://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2013/12/exemptions-from-the-mandate-do-not-violate-the-establishment-clause.html)
 and Eugene Volokh's (here: 
http://volokh.com/2013/12/04/3b-granting-exemption-employer-mandate-violate-establishment-clause/)
 were, for me, helpful.

With respect to your (and others') Establishment Clause argument, I do have a 
quick question.  (I am sorry if I am forgetting an answer that you have already 
presented in your scholarship!)  Do you think we should think of the 
no-burden-shifting rule as applying, in a sense, only *after* we have 
identified whatever limits on government regulation the First Amendment might 
require (e.g., the ministerial exception), and as applying only as a constraint 
on discretionary accommodations, or should we think of the rule as kicking in 
earlier, and as helping to fix the point where the First Amendment rights of, 
say, Hosanna-Tabor school end?  Or does it not matter?  Again, please feel free 
just to refer me to something else.

All the best,

Rick


Richard W. Garnett
Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Political Science
Director, Program on Church, State  Society
Notre Dame Law School
P.O. Box 780
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-0780
574-631-6981 (w)
574-276-2252 (cell)
rgarn...@nd.edumailto:rgarn...@nd.edu



To download my scholarly papers, please visit my SSRN 
pagehttp://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=342235



Blogs:



Prawfsblawghttp://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/
Mirror of Justicehttp://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/



Twitter:  @RickGarnetthttps://twitter.com/RickGarnett

On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 7:07 PM, Nelson Tebbe 
nelson.te...@brooklaw.edumailto:nelson.te...@brooklaw.edu wrote:


Thanks, Alan. Speaking again only