The Supreme Court delivered a unanimous defeat to LGBT couples in a high-profile case earlier today. The high court sided with a Roman Catholic adoption agency that claims its religious beliefs prevent them from working with same-sex foster parents looking to adopt.
According to CNBC, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in an opinion for a majority of the court that Philadelphia had violated the Constitution’s First Amendment by refusing to contract with Catholic Social Services because the organization would not certify same-sex couples for adoption.
“The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, applicable to the States under the Fourteenth Amendment, provides that ‘Congress shall make no law…prohibiting the free exercise of religion,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote.
“As an initial matter, it is plain that the City’s actions have burdened CSS’s religious exercise by putting it to the choice of curtailing its mission or approving relationships inconsistent with its beliefs,” he continued.
Under longstanding Supreme Court precedents, laws that are neutral to religion and generally applicable can be consistent with the Constitution, even if they burden religion. But in this case, Roberts said that the city of Philly’s nondiscrimination policy was not generally applicable, citing Philadelphia’s ability to grant exemptions from it.
Roberts wrote in the opinion that Philadelphia failed to show that it had a compelling interest in refusing to grant the adoption agency an exemption from its nondiscrimination policy.
