The Colorado Springs Gazette final

Barrett urged to recuse herself from Supreme Court LGBTQ case

BY KAELAN DEESE The Washington Examiner

Justice Amy Coney Barrett was urged to recuse herself from an upcoming Supreme Court case on free speech and LGBTQ issues by former members of a niche Christian group she is affiliated with, arguing the faith organization has discriminatory policies against same-sex marriage.

Former members of the People of Praise organization recently told the Guardian that the justice’s “lifelong and continued” membership in the Christian group means she cannot rule impartially in the case surrounding a Colorado web designer who says her religious beliefs prevent her from creating custom wedding websites that celebrate same-sex marriages. Despite the request from former People of Praise members who call themselves “survivors” of the organization, legal experts say there’s “no basis” for Barrett to recuse herself.

“I think there is not a strong legal argument for her recusal if the basis for the suggestion is the views of the group that they attribute to her,” Jonathan Entin, a constitutional law professor at Case Western University, told the Washington Examiner.

“Supreme Court justices have views and are connected with a lot of organizations, a lot of groups just in general, and that’s not enough,” Entin said, adding it would be “a different situation if that group were a party to the case.”

The case in question is 303 Creative LLC v. Aubrey Elenis and surrounds custom web developer Lorie Smith, who is arguing on the basis of free speech that Colorado’s public accommodation or anti-discrimination law has barred her from working on wedding websites for nearly six years by preventing her from denying service if a customer asks her to design a webpage celebrating same-sex unions.

The former People of Praise members point to Barrett’s former role on the board of Trinity Schools Inc, a private group of Christian schools affiliated with the People of Praise that prevented children of same-sex parents from attending the school.

In a faculty guide published in 2015, the year Barrett joined the board, the language suggests “homosexual acts” had “no place in the culture of Trinity Schools.” Such policies were in place before and after Barrett joined the board.

“I don’t believe that someone in her position, who is a member of this group, could put those biases aside, especially in a decision like the one coming up,” said Maura Sullivan, 46, who grew up in the People of Praise community in South Bend, Indiana. Sullivan says she is bisexual and said when she came out to her parents at the age of 19, she was “cut off” from her family.

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2022-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/281749863369086

The Gazette, Colorado Springs