A three-judge panel of the 5th
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that plaintiffs challenging
Mississippi's controversial “religious freedom” law lack
standing.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Carlton
Reeves halted the law before it took effect. But Thursday's decision
allows House Bill 1523 to go into effect.
“Under this current record, the
plaintiffs have not shown an injury-in-fact caused by HB 1523 that
would empower the district court or this court to rule on its
constitutionality,” the panel wrote. “Because the plaintiffs do
not have standing, we reverse the injunction and render a judgment of
dismissal.”
Mississippi's Protecting Freedom of
Conscience from Government Discrimination Act allows businesses
to deny services to LGBT people based on their “sincerely held
religious beliefs or moral convictions.” It also seeks to provide
similar protections to individuals who object to transgender rights.
Republican Governor Phil Bryant, who
signed House Bill 1523 into law, is defending the legislation on his
own after Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood declined to appeal
Reeves' ruling. Private attorneys, including some from the Christian
conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, are working on
the case.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, said in a statement that it
was disappointed by the ruling and called HB 1523 “the most
discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ state law in the country.”
“[The law] is a deliberate attempt to
undermine marriage equality and the dignity of LGBTQ Mississippians
who lawmakers have sworn to serve and protect,” HRC Mississippi
State Director Rob Hill said.
Plaintiffs said they would appeal the
ruling.