Fifth Circuit Amenable to Religious Carveouts to LGBT Rights (1)

A federal appeals court panel in New Orleans appeared open to upholding a lower court order shielding faith-based employers from having to comply with anti-LGBT discrimination laws, a move that would blunt the reach of a recent watershed US Supreme Court ruling.

During oral arguments Tuesday before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, two judges repeatedly pushed back on the federal government’s contention that a pre-enforcement lawsuit challenging the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s administration of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act isn’t ripe for judicial review.

But there has to be “some limiting principle” ...