June 17th, 2015
Nine years ago Andrew Koppelman and Cass Sunstein were dismissing the idea that gay marriage could ever threaten religious liberty. Here’s Koppelman:
“This is yet another of the predicted horrible consequences of same-sex marriage that just isn’t going to happen,” said Andrew Koppelman, a law professor
at Northwestern University
“The Catholic Church refuses to recognize the remarriages of divorced people whose spouses are still living. Their tax exemption has never been threatened because of this.”
Here’s Sunstein:
Asked whether the hypothetical religious college
“The answer is no,” said Sunstein, a professor of law and political science at the University of Chicago. “That’s an argument that would be generated by advocacy groups trying to scare people. The likelihood religious organizations would lose their tax exemption is as close to zero as anything in law is.”
And here, just as a reminder, is the solicitor general of the United States, Donald Verrilli, asked specifically if religious schools could lose their tax-exempt status over gay marriage, warning the Supreme Court that, in fact, the government will be looking very hard at this question:
You know, I—I don’t think I can answer that question without knowing more specifics, but it’s certainly going to be an issue. I—I don’t deny that. I don’t deny that, Justice Alito. It is—it is going to be an issue.
I wonder of Koppelman and Sunstein have changed their views. At the very least, they owe religious liberty proponents an apology for dismissing their concerns as fanciful.
Or rather, they would owe them an apology if they were legitimately interested in the law and not engaged in a giant cultural bait-and-switch.
Peterk June 19, 2015 at 3:50 pm
“The Catholic Church refuses to recognize the remarriages of divorced people whose spouses are still living. Their tax exemption has never been threatened because of this.”
what a misleading statement. remarriage by a divorced individual is a serious problem in the Church, but it has no effect upon the tax situation. now the colleges on the other hand..