Comparing Supreme Court rulings on race and gay rights

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : Justices also didn't say LGBTQ rights should trump religious freedom.
53% : In its Piggie Park and Bob Jones decisions, the court made it clear that the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion is not absolute.
51% : Instead, justices twice punted on the issue, declining to offer a definitive formula for balancing LGBTQ rights with religious freedom.
51% : "Some smart people are saying that the core of anti-discrimination law, including in the area of public accommodations, could be preserved while the court allows for religious exemptions in what it views as peripheral areas," he said.
50% : Yes, the court has asked the government to respect religious objectors to gay marriage, but it's also sidestepped chances to clearly say religious freedom should always beat LGBTQ rights, said Nelson Tebbe, a law professor at Cornell University.
49% : It's possible that justices are moving slowly and sidestepping key questions in order to give society more time to adjust to same-sex marriage legalization, Tebbe said.
48% : However, they also emphasized the need to respect people of faith who oppose same-sex marriage.
47% : Justices said religious freedom is sometimes outweighed by other policy goals, including ending racial discrimination.
47% : "Didn't the court say that there are honorable and respectable reasons for continuing to oppose same-sex marriage?
46% : For example, justices could exempt faith-based adoption agencies or wedding vendors while requiring most other types of businesses and nonprofits to abide by LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws, Tebbe said.
44% : Some legal scholars believe that, eventually, the court will explicitly say the government's interest in protecting gay and transgender Americans does not always outweigh religious freedom.
44% : Whatever the reason for the court's current approach to LGBTQ rights, it's fair to say the relationship between religious freedom protections and civil rights laws is still unsettled.
42% : So far, the Supreme Court has declined to take the same tone or apply the same standard in cases involving a clash between religious freedom and gay rights.
41% : Both suits pitted religious freedom protections against LGBTQ anti-discrimination law.
40% : "Let's say that, in the Fulton case, we were talking about interracial marriage instead of same-sex marriage.
39% : Instead, justices have called for compassion, leading some to claim that the court views religious objections to LGBTQ equality differently than objections related to race.
32% : During oral arguments in the Fulton case, Justice Samuel Alito implied that the court's ruling on same-sex marriage left the door open for religious exemptions, unlike its ruling on interracial marriage.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.