Posted on 07/02/2016 5:12:29 AM PDT by HomerBohn
The Stormans family owns a pharmacy in Olympia, Washington. As devout Christians, they were committed to run their business according to their convictions.
The government hates that. And they hate it with special animus in the context of abortion or “reproductive rights,” as they call it.
The Stormans did not carry abortifacients in their store, instead referring customers to the more than 30 other pharmacies within five miles of their store that carried it. No customer has ever been denied timely access to abortifacients. But their refusal to betray their deeply held religious beliefs and bow down before Big Abortion won them the ire of their business partners, Big Government.
Therefore, the Washington State Board of Pharmacy set to the task of coming up with new regulations. The task, according to Steven Saxe, the Board’s executive director, was to “draft language to allow facilitating a referral for only these non-moral or non-religious reasons.”
The Governor quickly jumped in with unusual enthusiasm, sending a letter opposing allowing a pharmacy to refer customers for “personal or conscientious reasons.” The States Human Rights Commission also sent “a letter threatening Board members with personal liability” if they allowed pharmacists to refer customers because of their religious convictions.
So the Board passed the law prohibiting a pharmacy from refusing “to deliver a drug or device to a patient because its owner objects to delivery on religious, moral or other personal grounds.” Essentially, Christians should get out of the pharmacy business.
Not surprisingly, with such a clear record showing the whole purpose of the law was to target religious beliefs, the District Court struck down the law. It seems fairly clear that if there is any meaning at all to, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …” it would be that government should not specifically target religious beliefs for discrimination, but as we know, reality has broken down in our culture.
So the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the official emperors of personal reality and relative truth in law and culture, reversed the District Court to preserve the bigoted law.
Naturally the Stormans, represented by our friends at the Alliance Defending Freedom, appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court who should have granted cert. to correct this clear violation of the First Amendment, but fresh off the ecstasies of declaring commonsense abortion regulations unconstitutional, the Court decided not to hear the case and allow Washington state’s discrimination to continue.
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, published a dissenting opinion objecting to the denial of cert. In it he calls the decision to deny cert. “an ominous sign,” and wrote, “If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.”
And so we have — great concern, that is. The Supreme Court’s inaction will undoubtedly encourage other liberal states to infringe on religious liberty in the same way Washington has, in direct violation of the First Amendment and clear Supreme Court precedent.
As Justice Alito pointed out, “The Free Exercise Clause commits government itself to religious tolerance, and upon even slight suspicion that proposals for state intervention stem from animosity to religion or distrust of its practices, all officials must pause to remember their own high duty to the Constitution and to the rights it secures.”
Thankfully, the Court’s refusal to hear the case does not preclude other cases from challenging similar laws, and, hopefully, a Supreme Court with more justices committed to the Constitution as written will rectify the violation they authenticate with their denial this term.
Steps should have been taken long ago to keep the agenda-types OFF the SC. Congress is to busy manicuring their nails.
Attack the SC with the Constitution. Slap their faces with it and beat them so hard they step down. Keep waiting and the SC, which is a legislative body, will continue to allow despots like the foreign exchange student to continue his evil.
The bad news is that it will only happen after the country is filled with Mexican Muslims.
Naturally the Stormans, represented by our friends at the Alliance Defending Freedom, appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court who should have granted cert. to correct this clear violation of the First Amendment, but fresh off the ecstasies of declaring commonsense abortion regulations unconstitutional, the Court decided not to hear the case and allow Washington state’s discrimination to continue.
Do you know how that decision is reached? Can a SCOTUS member dissent?
The Federal government is now the enemy of democracy. We are living in a dictatorship. Most people are now afraid to express their sincere convictions. This cannot end well.
Your question seem implausible. The SC, like any other appeal court, acts by majority members on its bench. Those in the minority have the absolute right to dissent as have 3 justices in this instance.
Dissent is not veto. It is merely a statement for the record. Nor do the disagreeing justices have a right of appeal. Indeed, in the case of the SC, there is no appeal save to the Legislative or the Executive branch for redress of grievance.
In this instance the Executive is in substantial agreement with the Court’s finding. The Legislative branch, as has been noted elsewhere on these threads, is kept busy preening and genuflecting.
Post #5 ~ Dissent is not veto. It is merely a statement for the record. Nor do the disagreeing justices have a right of appeal. Indeed, in the case of the SC, there is no appeal save to the Legislative or the Executive branch for redress of grievance. ~
Yikes! I didn’t know that, thank you for the info...
After a period four years had elapsed and the above mentioned changes were being implemented, another National Election was held, in 2012. Again a majority of those that voted affirmed, via their votes, that yes indeed, we do want the United States of America fundamentally transformed. Yes indeed, we do demand that a muslim have the rule over us. And last but not least, we do indeed want to swap our freedoms for slavery. The wishes of the majority are in the process of being made come true.
...”The Federal government is now the enemy of democracy. We are living in a dictatorship. Most people are now afraid to express their sincere convictions. This cannot end well.”...
You describe the “elephant in the room.” I have just about stopped watching the media, even FOXNEWS and even talk radio, for none will dare call it what it so obviously is. We have no Constitution. The Constitution we had is totally ignored by the powers that be, though they are small in number. Couple that with a population ignorant of our form of government and you have a situation where a dictatorship has been easy to achieve. Just ignore the laws of the land and wait to see if anyone stops you. No separation of powers have been brought to bear on any of the insults to our nation which have occurred over many years now, while the enemies of freedom have worked overtime day in and day out to bring our country to it’s knees so that another form of rule can take over. Is it too late to stop this? Maybe so.
the stakes of the election are clear.
.....The States Human Rights Commission also sent “a letter threatening Board members with personal liability” if they allowed pharmacists to refer customers because of their religious convictions.....
The “human rights” movement—despite its noble-sounding name—is EVIL!!!!
I’m surprised there is a Christian family like this in Olympia. They must be very isolated among the American people. God bless them.
Yes, it seems that the “American” people are hell bent on embracing slavery for themselves.
There’s the answer: simply don’t carry abortifacients. Then nobody can claim you’re discriminating if you don’t sell them.
Obama is Public Enemy # 1!
Tell the Pharmacy to carry the abortifacients. If the normal price is (and I have no idea what something like this costs) $50 per dose, make the price $500. Nobody will buy it, and the owners will not have violated their religious beliefs. Problem solved (in this case)
"In the end, the crowd always chooses Barabbas."
It can’t be long until we see those that love America and what it stands for becoming more forceful, and standing up against these tyrants. The foreign and domestic enemies are in full assault and intend to destroy her. I hope Trump is the beginning of seriously fighting back.
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