According to the documents, Alliance Defending Freedom, Scottsdale, Ariz., not only drafted and submitted the legislation as previously reported by Mississippi Today but also approached Gov. Phil Bryant approached Gov. Phil with the idea of a religious freedom bill more than a year ago. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank based in Jackson, appears to have been heavily involved in obtaining support from religious groups throughout the state. In March 2016, the center sent about 12 letters of support to HB 1523 to Governor Bryant’s office. In March 2016, Jameson Taylor, the Mississippi Center’s vice-president for policy, sent three emails to Bryant’s staff expressing support for HB 1523. “I’ll also mention that Pat McCrory, who has worked in North Carolina is not well-known for being extremely conservative. However, the NC governor is running to re-election. He knows it is good political to defend religious liberty. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ruled in favor of House Bill 1523 just minutes before it was due to go into effect July 1. The governor appealed the decision to the U.S. 5th District Court of Appeals two weeks ago. Circuit Court of Appeals. He asked Judge Reeves to stay his decision so that the law could take effect. Roberta Kaplan (the lead attorney for plaintiffs) filed her motion against the stay Wednesday night. These emails were made available as exhibits to House Bill 1523’s motion. The plaintiff claims that House Bill is rooted in Christian arguments against homosexual marriage. This would be a violation of the Establishment Clause, the First Amendment’s clause that states that the government cannot approve one set of religious beliefs and ignore others. Gov. Bryant, however, claimed in his request for a stay, “HB 1523” is constitutional. Kaplan claims that these emails show the opposite. “Groups are always involved in the drafting and support of legislation. That’s not surprising. Kaplan stated that the fact that a group calling itself a “ministry”, such as the ADF, drafted and promoted the bill, and also drafted the signing statements for the governor, is relevant to the question whether the bill constitutes an impermissible establishment religion. According to the emails, Alliance Defending Freedom contacted Gov. Bryant’s office was contacted long before the 2016 legislative session and well before the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage. ADF pointed out that there is nothing illegal or unusual about the correspondence they have with the governor’s offices. The outside groups often offer model legislation to elected officials in the hope that it will become law. Greg Scott, ADF vice president of communications, said that the striking thing about these communications is how opposing counsel made the argument that if someone or a group isn’t ideologically locked-stepping according to a narrow set of moral convictions, the “heretics” and their ideas must be thrown out of public life. “So much for tolerance and diversity.” Bryant. Bryant. It could be used to respond to the Supreme Court’s decision on marriage (whatever it may be),” Nimocks wrote Snyder. Nimocks attached 2 documents. The first document outlined the potential consequences for anyone who has religious beliefs and opposes gay marriage. The second page was an eight-page “executive or,” which would contain nearly half of the text of HB1523. ADF did not reply to a request to comment on Thursday. However, it previously denied that they were involved in the creation of House Bill 1523. In April, Mississippi Today reported that ADF had been asked to “ask many state legislators, including those in Mississippi, about the constitutionality and government discrimination, privacy legislation, as they work to affirm or uphold citizens’ fundamental rights.” These documents show a deeper involvement. ADF provided public-relations support to the governor’s offices on March 31, one day after the Mississippi Senate passed House Bill 15.23. “Obviously there will likely be significant opposition so we want to help come behind you all however we can with national support and cover as well as activating folks in the state,” wrote ADF attorney Kellie Fiedorek to Snyder, offering help with “PR/messaging/support.” Whitney Lipscomb, another Bryant attorney, sent a draft of the governor’s signing statement to Fiedorek, who responded with two versions in an attempt, Fiedorek said, to write in Bryant’s voice. The bill’s language was and presentation was criticized by the Arizona group, but the Mississippi Center for Public Policy mobilized troops at home. Emails show that MCPP was involved in coordinating support from more than a dozen religious organizations in the state. Taylor, MCPP’s director of MCPP, bombarded the governor with documents highlighting what he claimed was widespread support for HB1523 as the deadline approached for its passage. Taylor sent the governor an email on March 28, two days before the Senate approved the bill. He provided “talking points” and a list with supporters. Except for the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, all of the organizations that endorsed the bill identify themselves as Christian. Two Christian adoption and foster care services were included, as well as a Christian drug rehabilitation facility and Catholic dioceses in Biloxi and Jackson. Gov. Bryant’s communications department did not respond to a request for comment. Forest Thigpen (MCPP president) also didn’t respond to a request. To support this important work, you can make a regular donation to MCPP today. Our reporters give a human face to policy’s impact on everyday Mississippians by listening more closely and understanding their communities. To ensure that our work is aligned with the priorities and needs of Mississippians, we are listening to you. Click the button below to let us know what you think. Republish this Story You can freely republish our articles online or in print under a Creative Commons licence. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. R.L. Mississippi Today, Nave
July 21, 2016