Even before the US Supreme Court will hear arguments threatening the Affordable Care Act in November, the “next high stakes LGBTQ rights case,” said Janson Wu, executive director of the Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), is scheduled to be argued before the court on November 4.
The case — concerning religious exemptions to LGBTQ protections — will be one of the first cases to reach SCOTUS after last night’s appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
“With Justice Barrett now replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the composition of our Supreme Court has taken another step away from a core understanding that our Constitution is there to protect the rights of all,” said Wu.
“Fulton v. City of Philadelphia” challenges federal court decisions to uphold the rights of married same-sex couples and unmarried couples to be foster parents: The city of Philadelphia had suspended its contract with Catholic Social Services after CSS refused to work with these couples, and CSS brought the case to the courts, which twice decided against CSS, first in trial, then in appeals.
Now headed to the Supreme Court, Fulton is poised to be a landmark case on the question of whether religiously-based social welfare organizations that receive taxpayer dollars through local government contracts can be exempt from the government’s nondiscrimination laws. There is a possibility that a decision in Fulton could come to mean that nearly any religious entity, or even a private company asserting its religious beliefs, would have permission to refuse to serve or work with anyone simply because of who they are.
So many people rely on government-funded entities like CSS to fulfill essential needs — for food, housing, health care, and more. This case could lay the foundation for the reversal of protections on which the most vulnerable in our community rely to ensure equal access to goods and services. It could also require the government at all levels to fund discriminatory groups.
In August, GLAD joined 27 other LGBTQ advocacy organizations across the country to urge SCOTUS “not to introduce a broad exemption to nondiscrimination laws that would undermine Constitutional equal protection guarantees and introduce a dangerous and unworkable scheme into local, state, and federal lawmaking.”
Last night’s seating of Justice Barrett increased the chances that the Court will do just that.
View GLAD’s brief here or click here to read all of the filings in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.
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