Politics
Colorado web designer who refuses to serve same-sex couples says law violates free speech rights
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Lorie Smith’s authorized problem in opposition to Colorado’s anti-discrimination legislation, which the Supreme Courtroom introduced in February it should hear, has drawn accusations that she is on an “anti-LGBTQ campaign,” however she adamantly insists that that is removed from the reality.
Smith, a graphics and web site designer, runs 303 Inventive LLC, a small enterprise that she desires to broaden into creating marriage ceremony web sites for {couples}. As a spiritual Christian, nevertheless, Smith opposes same-sex weddings and doesn’t need to promote them.
SUPREME COURT TO TAKE UP CASE OVER FREE SPEECH VS. LGBTQ RIGHTS
“I wished to speculate my time and my expertise and my ardour in selling messages that I actually care about and to additionally assist folks. And I get the chance to do that day by day by my customized graphics and web sites,” Smith informed Fox Information Digital in an interview. “It’s vital to me that each message I promote, all the things I create is glorifying and honoring to our Creator.”
Smith’s case as a spiritual artist preventing with Colorado might sound acquainted, because it bears resemblances to the case baker Jack Phillips and his enterprise, Masterpiece Cakeshop. After Phillips refused to create a cake for a homosexual marriage ceremony, the state discovered him in violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
The Supreme Courtroom ended up siding with Phillips, discovering that Colorado was overly hostile towards his non secular beliefs. What units Smith’s case aside is that whereas the court docket by no means acquired to the problem of whether or not Phillips’ work constituted speech for First Modification functions, Smith and her authorized opponents have stipulated that her work is speech.
Not solely that, either side have additionally stipulated that Smith makes inventive choices based mostly on message and content material, and that she serves all folks, no matter sexual orientation.
“I feel it’s vital for folks to know that I like and welcome the chance to work with all folks. My case has by no means been about selecting which shopper to work with, however about selecting the message that I’m being requested to advertise,” Smith stated.
Smith turned to Alliance Defending Freedom to signify her in her case earlier than the Supreme Courtroom dominated in Masterpiece Cakeshop, as she was frightened that she might face the identical issues as Phillips if she began designing marriage ceremony web sites.
“Right here’s one other fellow inventive and I noticed the best way that the state was treating Jack and I assumed to myself, May I discover myself in the identical place?” She stated she was “inspired” when the Supreme Courtroom dominated in his favor.
LGBT rights supporters have railed in opposition to Smith, Phillips and others who they consider are improperly discriminating.
CHRISTIAN FLORIST SETTLING WITH SAME-SEX COUPLE AFTER NEARLY A DECADE FIGHTING ICONIC RELIGIOUS LIBERTY CASE
Lambda Authorized senior counsel Jennifer Pizer, who filed an amicus temporary within the case, accused Smith and her attorneys of utilizing faith to marginalize the homosexual neighborhood.
“[W]e are witness but once more to the unrelenting anti-LGBTQ campaign being waged by self-described Christian fundamentalist authorized teams aiming to chip away on the hard-won features of LGBTQ folks by carving out swaths of territory the place discrimination can flourish,” Pizer stated in an announcement in regards to the case. “The constitutional protections for non secular freedom and free speech had been by no means meant as weapons of discrimination for these doing enterprise with most of the people.”
Smith vehemently disagrees with that sentiment, saying that it’s “completely incorrect” that she “discriminates in opposition to homosexual folks.”
“I work with all folks and I’ve labored with all folks together with those that establish as LGBT,” she stated. “I’m unable to advertise all messages. And to take it a step additional and to make clear, Colorado and the Tenth Circuit Courtroom say they agree that I work with all folks. In order that’s actually one thing that’s been clarified and agreed to.”
That has not stopped critics from flooding Smith’s inbox with offended messages, however she acknowledges that they’ve a proper to specific themselves by their feedback simply has she has freedom of expression by her work. She simply believes folks ought to be capable of disagree “civilly.”
“That’s the mark of a wholesome and free society,” Smith stated. “And whereas I feel that everybody ought to deal with one another courteously and consideration and communicate in ways in which replicate that, I’ll all the time affirm one’s proper to talk freely. And that’s what I’m asking for. I’m asking for that very same freedom. And the suitable to talk freely is worthy of defending.”
Smith’s legal professional, Kristen Waggoner of Alliance Defending Freedom, agrees.
“I feel we will look all over the world proper now and see what regimes appear to be which might be prepared to silence dissent and censor speech and hopefully agree as Individuals that that’s not the trail we need to observe. That free speech permits us to discover and check concepts, to pursue fact. We now have to have it to have a various society,” Waggoner stated.
“All of us, no matter our views on marriage, this subject transcends marriage it’s about whether or not we’ve got the suitable to talk freely. And for that purpose we should always all help Lorie on this case.”
Politics
Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.”
“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote.
Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.
TRUMP SAYS MEXICO WILL STOP FLOW OF MIGRANTS AFTER SPEAKING WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT FOLLOWING TARIFF THREATS
It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.
LIBERAL NANTUCKET REELS FROM MIGRANT CRIME WAVE AS BIDEN SPENDS THANKSGIVING IN RICH FRIEND’S MANSION
Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.
He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.”
“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”
The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration.
In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.
The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.
Politics
Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”
Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”
Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.
In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.
She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”
“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.
Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.
The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.
Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.
Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”
The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”
Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.
One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.
Politics
Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
HARRIS NEVER LED TRUMP, INTERNAL POLLS SHOWED — BUT DNC OFFICIALS WERE KEPT IN THE DARK
“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.
ARMED FELON ARRESTED FOR THREATENING TO KILL TRUMP ATTENDED RALLY WEEKS AFTER BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family.
Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”
“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”
Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”
“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”
The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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