SCOTUS Asked to Review State Court’s Decision to Remove Jurors with ‘Conservative Christian’ Beliefs
(Worthy News) – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the Supreme Court Thursday to review a state court’s decision to remove Christian jurors from an employment discrimination lawsuit where the plaintiff identified as lesbian.
While the court found the jurors would be impartial, rejecting the argument of the plaintiff’s attorney that they would treat gay individuals as “less than everybody else,” it still removed the jurors “to err on the side of caution,” according to the petition. Now, Bailey is asking the Supreme Court to consider whether the Fourteenth Amendment prevents courts from removing jurors based on their religion.
“Jurors can be excluded, of course, if their religious views in fact make them biased – just like jurors can be excluded if their race or sex in fact makes them biased,” the petition notes. “But this Court’s precedents make clear that courts cannot assume, based on stereotypes about race or sex, that a person will be biased. The same should be true of religion.” [ Source: Daily Caller (Read More…) ]