A Big Case Is Being Heard In Texas Today

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments for the blocking the Mississippi law allowing people to discriminate against LGBT people just by saying it is against their religious beliefs.

At little bit of the history of the bill, back in July; U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves struck down the Mississippi law. According to Slate,

That drubbing came in the form of an astonishing 60-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves blocking every single part of Mississippi’s sweeping, vicious anti-LGBTQ segregation law from taking effect. The law, HB 1523, granted special protections to three religious beliefs: Those who oppose same-sex marriage; those who oppose sex outside of marriage; and those who dislike trans and gender-nonconforming people. Starting July 1, HB 1523 would have allowed religious landlords to evict gay and trans renters; permitted religious employers to fire workers for being LGBTQ; granted state and private adoption agencies the right to turn away same-sex couples; allowed private businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ people; given doctors a right to refuse to treat LGBTQ people in most circumstances; and permitted clerks to refuse to marry same-sex couples.

So now the appeal is being heard today.

Mississippi LGBT law being argued in federal appeals court
Philadelphia Tribune
By Emily Wagster Pettus
April 3,2017

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which handles cases from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — is hearing arguments Monday afternoon about the Mississippi law in Lubbock, Texas.

The defending the law is a private lawyer and not the Attorney General because,

Mississippi Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood declined to appeal the ruling that blocked the law from taking effect. The governor’s appeal is being handled by private attorneys, including some working for Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based Christian legal group that helped to write the law.

“Americans shouldn’t have to live in fear of government punishment simply for affirming marriage as a man-woman union,” Kevin Theriot (TAIR-ee-oh), an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a news release. “Good laws like Mississippi’s protect freedom and harm no one. Those challenging this law want to restrict freedom and impose their beliefs on others by ensuring dissenters are left open to the government discrimination that has already occurred in states without protective laws like this one.”

And this case is important because…

As of June 2016, more than 100 bills were filed in more than 20 state legislatures across the nation in response to the June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage, UCLA law professor Douglas NeJaime testified in June during a federal district court hearing on the Mississippi law. NeJaime said Mississippi was the only state to enact a law listing specific beliefs to be protected. — (AP)

And many of the states are in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals district.