Kramer Levin Files Amicus Brief in the Fifth Circuit in Case Raising Federal Constitutional Challenge to Anti-LGBT Law

Kramer Levin on Dec. 23, 2016 filed an amicus brief in a case raising a federal constitutional challenge to a sweeping anti-LGBT law passed by the Mississippi legislature in March 2016. HB 1523 protects specifically enumerated religious beliefs above all others – namely, that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, that sexual relations are properly confined to such a marriage, and that sex is an innate characteristic assigned at birth and cannot change – and allows public officials, doctors, and others to invoke the enumerated beliefs as justification for refusing treatment and service to LGBT persons. A federal district court judge struck down the law in June 2016, and state officials appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Kramer Levin’s amicus brief, in support of plaintiffs-appellees in two consolidated cases, Barber, et al. v. Bryant, et al. and Campaign for Southern v. Bryant, et al., was filed in the Fifth Circuit on behalf of diverse institutional religious leaders, entities, and congregations that affirm the inherent dignity of LGBT persons, and believe it is wrong for any state to sanction discrimination based on the religious beliefs of only some of its citizens with respect to the dignity and place in civic life of LGBT persons and their families. The brief’s signatories included the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Jewish Reconstructionist Communities, the Religious Institute, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and national Methodist, Muslim, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Quaker faith organizations.

The brief, similar to earlier briefs the firm submitted in marriage equality cases, documents the growing range of religious traditions that respect the dignity of LGBT persons and their families and support civil marriage equality, endorses broad principles of religious freedom and equal rights, and argues that respecting the marriage rights of same-sex couples, and ensuring equal protection of LGBT persons generally, will not impinge upon religious beliefs, practices, or operations, but rather will prevent one set of religious beliefs from being imposed through civil law.

The Kramer Levin team that drafted the brief includes Litigation partners Jeffrey S. Trachtman and Norman C. Simon and associates Jason M. Moff and Kurt M. Denk, with additional research assistance from Real Estate associate Christopher L. Palladino and Litigation associate Timur Tusiray. Kramer Levin has played a leading role in pro bono LGBT rights litigation for nearly two decades. The firm has previously submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dale, Lawrence, Windsor, Perry and Obergefell cases, and in numerous predecessor cases before various of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and was co-counsel in Hernandez v. Robles, the case seeking equal marriage rights under the New York State Constitution.

Fifth Circuit Religious Amici Brief Supporting Plaintiffs-Appellees