Supreme Court Re-affirms Fundamental Rights
July 4, 2023 | Washington, D.C.
by Eagle Forum President, Kristen A. Ullman
Americans have much to celebrate this July 4th weekend as the Supreme Court has reaffirmed our fundamental rights to Free Speech, Religious Liberty, and Equal Protection under the law, as well as separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government. The important provisions of our Constitution have been clarified by the holdings in 303 Creative, Groff v. DeJoy, Students for Fair Admissions, and Biden v. Nebraska. We applaud these decisions that strengthen our freedoms on this Independence Day.
The Court, in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, restated the fundamental American principle that “the First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands.” We are disappointed the decision was not unanimous for who could deny “the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong,” as the majority so eloquently stated. The right to free speech, so often under attack in our culture, is strengthened by this decision.
Our First Amendment religious freedom rights were reinforced yesterday by the unanimous decision in Groff v. DeJoy that strengthens legal protections for employees seeking religious accommodations, such as schedule changes to observe holy days. The Court held that federal law requires workplaces to accommodate their religious employees unless doing so would cause substantial increased costs on the business. Denying accommodations to people of faith can no longer be justified by showing some “de minimis” burden. We are grateful for the unanimous support for this important First Amendment freedom.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in the Students for Fair Admissions that “the Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause. Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today.” Justice Thomas concurred that, “[S]orting by race … increasingly encourage[s] our Nation’s youth to view racial differences as important and segregation as routine.” This is indeed the problem with Critical Race Theory and is why Eagle Forum vehemently opposes CRT and racial quotas.
Finally, the Supreme Court struck down the Biden Administration's plan to cancel student loan debt by Executive branch fiat. The Court rightly stated that the tradeoffs to be considered in a mass debt cancellation program “are ones that Congress would likely have intended for itself” and that the Secretary of Education has no “clear congressional authorization” for such a program. Eagle Forum has consistently advocated for the three branches of government to operate in their constitutionally-mandated roles. This decision clarifies that the Legislative Branch is responsible for legislation and the Executive Branch may not usurp this role from Congress. We thank the Court for reigning in the Bureaucratic State and reasserting our fundamental rights to speech, religion, and equal protection under the 14h Amendment.