Crosstalk: August 27, 2019

Despite the current administration, the attacks upon your religious freedom are unrelenting.  As we speak there are attempts to do away with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, attempts to eliminate religious freedom protections for employers and medical professionals, as well as attempts to take elements of the so-called Equality Act and implement them into ‘must pass’ pieces of legislation.  In addition, there are attempts to prohibit any segregation in public accommodation while adding the words of gender identity and sexual orientation to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Joining Jim to discuss these and other related legislative matters was Mat Staver. Mat is the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.  Mat has over 230 published legal opinions, has authored 8 scholarly law review publications and 10 books. He has filed numerous briefs and argued in many federal and state courts.  He has also argued two landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Just last week the Denver based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that the Colorado Secretary of State violated the Constitution when he removed a delegate to the electoral college who chose to vote for John Kasich rather than Hillary Clinton.  The Secretary of State nullified that vote and replaced that person with a delegate who was going to vote in accordance with the popular vote of the State of Colorado. Mat helped listeners understand the impact of this decision, especially as it relates to the push to replace the electoral college with a national popular vote.

Next up was discussion concerning the 16 million dollar lawsuit involving Planned Parenthood vs. Sandra Merritt.  According to Mat, the good news is that some of the claims of Planned Parenthood have been dismissed at summary judgment.  The case will still go to trial September 30th.

Discussion continued concerning the following that specifically addresses religious liberty:

–The Equality Act–It’s only passed the House but we do know there are attempts being made to take portions of the act and strategically place them in ‘must pass’ pieces of legislation like the National Defense Authorization Act.  Democrats are doing this because they know they don’t have the votes in the Senate to pass this as a ‘stand alone’ piece of legislation at this time.

–The Do No Harm Act (HR-1450)–This would eliminate religious freedom protection for employers and medical professionals.  It’s very up front in stating that its purpose is to amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

–The Customer Non-Discrimination Act (HR-2687)–This would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act by stating that in places of public accommodation you cannot segregate based upon gender identity and sexual orientation.  This means a person could use the restroom of his/her choice based upon their gender/sexual orientation that they identify with at that moment.

–The Refund Equality Act of 2019 (HR-3294/SB-1940)–This is essentially a homosexual reparations bill that would give more than 55 million dollars to same-sex couples.  It attempts to make amends for what happened when people filed before the Supreme Court issued its marriage decision and they weren’t able to be recognized as being legally married.

–The Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (HR-2480)–It rewards LGBT behavior in children.  It would ultimately restrict biological as well as foster parents from having their value system imparted to their children if it conflicted with a child’s LGBT leanings.  Parents who would try to teach such a value system could be charged with child abuse.