Mills and Amond co-author U.S. Supreme Court petition

Fishman Haygood lawyers Alysson Mills and Kristen Amond, along with the law firm Kaplan & Company, LLP, have filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the case Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of Mississippi House Bill 1523.

Mississippi enacted HB1523 in response to Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in all fifty states.  HB1523 immunizes from adverse state action any person who acts on the “sincerely held religious belief” that marriage is between a man and a woman, that sexual relations are reserved for such a marriage, or that a person’s sex is determined “by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.”

A federal district judge held HB1523 violates the Establishment Clause because it singles-out three religious viewpoints for special government protection. The Fifth Circuit vacated that ruling, concluding plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge HB1523.  The petition for writ of certiorari argues Mississippi residents who have been stigmatized by HB1523 have standing to challenge the statute under the Establishment Clause.

Read press coverage of Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant here.