Box Turtle Bulletin

Mississippi AG: “The Churchgoing Public Was Duped” Into Supporting Anti-LGBT “Religious Freedom” Bill

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood

Mississippi’s lawmakers got their collective heads handed to them on a plate late Thursday when Federal District judge Carlton Reeves issued his blistering injunction that prevented Mississippi’s so-called “Religious Freedom” right-to-discriminate law from taking effect. Injunctions are typically brief, and the three lawsuits that have been brought against the state of Mississippi are still due to have their day in court. But Reeves’s 60-page order read far more like a final ruling than an injunction, leaving little doubt about where these cases are headed.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, the state’s only Democrat to hold a state-wide elective office, now says he doesn’t know whether he will appeal the judge’s injunction. “I can’t pick my clients,” he wrote in a statement, “but I can speak for myself as a named defendant in this lawsuit. The fact is that the churchgoing public was duped into believing that HB1523 protected religious freedoms.”

While Hood said state attorneys will evaluate the judge’s decision to determine whether to appeal the case that “could cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.” But the rest of his statement made it pretty clear that he was not inclined to appeal:

I believe in the free exercise of religion and there will be a case in the future in which the U.S. Supreme Court will better define our religious rights.  This case, however, is not that vehicle.

Here is Hood’s full statement:

I can’t pick my clients, but I can speak for myself as a named defendant in this lawsuit. The fact is that the churchgoing public was duped into believing that HB1523 protected religious freedoms. Our state leaders attempted to mislead pastors into believing that if this bill were not passed, they would have to preside over gay wedding ceremonies. No court case has ever said a pastor did not have discretion to refuse to marry any couple for any reason. I hate to see politicians continue to prey on people who pray, go to church, follow the law and help their fellow man.

The federal court’s ruling was straightforward and clear. On page 9, the court quotes statements made by legislators, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The court found that those statements, along with the inclusion of the term “sincerely held religious beliefs” and the definition thereof in HB 1523, were strong evidence that the law was unconstitutional.

In 2014, the state enacted the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, which created a right of citizens to sue the state in state court if they felt that their religious freedoms were being overburdened. The federal court observed that this act was already in law when those officials went for a second victory lap to reinvigorate the support of churchgoing people by passing HB 1523 in an overtly political fashion.

Our attorneys will evaluate this decision to determine whether or not to appeal all or parts of Thursday’s ruling. We do intend to appeal the Court’s decision earlier in the week to extend the injunction to cover circuit clerks, who were never parties to the case.

I believe in the free exercise of religion and there will be a case in the future in which the U.S. Supreme Court will better define our religious rights. This case, however, is not that vehicle.

In consideration of the individual rights of all our citizens, the state’s current budget crisis and the cost of appeal, I will have to think long and hard about spending taxpayer money to appeal the case against me. An appeal could cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars. For example, North Carolina has set aside $500,000 for defense of its bathroom law. Even if we won and the injunction were set aside on appeal, the case would be remanded and proceed to trial over about two years. Because of the huge tax breaks handed out to big corporations by these same leaders, the state is throwing mentally ill patients out on the street. This is hardly protecting the least among us as Jesus directed.