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To: Brumar89 who wrote (1136469)

5/24/2019 8:28:28 PM

From: Brumar89

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rdkflorida2

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Trump judicial pick pressed on accusing Christian farm of ‘discrimination’ against same-sex ‘weddings’
Trump court nominees say the Catholic Church is like the KKK

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 23, 2019 ( LifeSiteNews) – Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri scrutinized another of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees Wednesday for an apparent disconnect between his record and the conservative legal philosophy the president pledged during his campaign.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was questioning Michael Bogren, Trump’s nominee to be a federal district judge for the Western District of Michigan, the Detroit Free Press reports. Hawley, a conservative freshman, used his opportunity to question Bogren on his role as an attorney for the City of East Lansing during a 2017 religious liberty dispute.

As LifeSiteNews covered at the time, the city was trying to bar Steve and Bridget Tennes, owners of Country Mill Farms in Charlotte, from its local farmers’ market due to the Christian family farm’s refusal to host same-sex “weddings.” A district judge granted a preliminary request to let the Tennes family in while their lawsuit progressed, and last month the family’s attorneys appeared before the Western District Court to make their case.

Representing the city’s efforts to keep the family out, Bogren wrote a brief in 2017 arguing that “discriminatory conduct” being “based on sincerely held religious beliefs does not insulate that conduct from anti-discrimination laws,” noting that members of the Nation of Islam or Ku Klux Klan who opposed interracial marriage “would not be able to ... avoid the anti-discrimination provisions of federal, state and local laws that apply to public accommodations if interracial couples were refused service."

“The message isn’t Catholics need not apply,” but that “discriminators need not apply,” he also said at the time. “The fact that the plaintiff says, ‘My religion compels me,’ does not protect him. There’s a difference between belief and act." During his questioning this week, Hawley argued that Bogren’s comparison demonstrated “impermissible hostility” toward religious beliefs.

The Columbia Bugle

@ColumbiaBugle

Senator Josh Hawley grilling judicial nominee over his anti-Catholic rhetoric:

"No, you specifically compared this Catholic family's adherence to their religious beliefs with the views of the KKK."

Senator Hawley then reminds everyone of the Masterpiece Cake Shop SCOTUS Case

3,437
12:18 PM - May 22, 2019

“You think those things are equivalent,” Hawley said. “You think that the Catholic family's pointing out the teachings of their church is equivalent to a KKK member invoking Christianity [...] The Masterpiece Cakeshop case turned on these issues, it turned on this kind of animus. The fact that you stand by these comments is extraordinary to me.”

“I stand by those comparisons,” Bogren declared, arguing he was merely defending his client’s (the city’s) position to the best of his ability and making the point that a religious motivation is immaterial to whether an act is discriminatory. “From a legal perspective, senator, there is no difference,” Bogren said.

The incident has alarmed various conservatives, who noted that Bogren appears to be a far cry from the conservative jurists Trump campaigned on appointing.

Rod Dreher

?@roddreher

· May 22, 2019

How the hell did ? @realDonaldTrump? nominate a guy who thinks faithful Catholics are like Klansmen? Good for Sen Josh Hawley for calling this out. Religious conservatives voted Trump to keep judges like this OFF the bench! t.co

Senator blasts Trump's Michigan judge nominee, says he compared Catholics to KKKA Republican U.S. senator said Michael Bogren, a Trump nominee in west Michigan, compared a Catholic family's beliefs to the KKK, which he denies.

freep.com

Rod Dreher

?@roddreher

Sen Hawley even gave this nominee the chance to walk back his outrageous claim. Instead, he doubled down. Are Republican senators really going to vote to confirm?

53
4:30 PM - May 22, 2019

“Folks, that is the whole enchilada of what we are fighting in the courts today,” Conservative Review’s Daniel Horowitz warned. “Governments are codifying the homosexual – and now, the transgender – agenda into civil rights, thereby trampling the foundational freedom of religion in this country. Once we accede to the point that sexual behavior is just like race, that would mean that even private businesses who are not seeking government work but just merely want to be left alone would also be forced to directly serve homosexual weddings.”

Bogren isn’t the first Trump judicial nominee to concern social conservatives. Last year, he nominated assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Bumatay and Illinois Magistrate Judge Mary Rowlandto the federal bench, both of whom belonged to or worked for LGBT legal organizations that have staked out left-wing stances on homosexuality and religious liberty issues.

Elected in November, Hawley ruffled feathers earlier this year when he joined a Republican-controlled Senate accustomed to approving such judges with little scrutiny. In February, he was criticized by some for questioning D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Neomi Rao over her pro-life credentials and judicial philosophy (though he eventually supported her after a follow-up meeting satisfied his concerns).

lifesitenews.com