Attorney General Alan Wilson asks US Supreme Court to protect religious freedom

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to prevent states from prosecuting people for their religious beliefs. He joined a coalition of 16 states asking the Supreme Court to hear a California case called Miller v. Civil Rights Department.

Cathy Miller is a committed Christian who has owned a bakery for more than 10 years. In 2017, a same-sex couple asked her to design a custom cake for their wedding, which is something she couldn’t do based on her religious beliefs about marriage. She offered to refer the couple to another baker who would design their cake, but the couple filed a civil rights complaint, and the state of California has been prosecuting Miller ever since. In August, she asked the Supreme Court to step in and protect her religious freedom.

“A state should not prosecute or persecute someone for their religious beliefs, but that’s exactly what’s happening here,” Attorney General Wilson said. “We must fight against discrimination, but that includes discrimination against religious beliefs. We can’t stand by and let California or any state government force someone to do something that violates their religious convictions.”

The trial court in California ruled in favor of Miller, finding that she “served and employed” people of all sexual orientations and that her “only intent, her only motivation, was fidelity to sincere Christian beliefs,” and that was not discrimination. But the state kept prosecuting, and a California appeals court ruled against Miller. The state Supreme Court refused to hear her case, so she’s asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear it.

The attorneys general argue in their brief that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in a similar case in Colorado that the state could not force a baker to make a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding. However, they ask the Court to overturn another ruling from more than 30 years ago, which other courts have relied upon to make contradictory rulings when it comes to religious liberty.

Joining Attorney General Wilson in filing the friend-of-the-court brief are the attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia.

You can read the brief here.