Speaker 1 (00:00):
Major Supreme Court rulings within the last two hours. The justices just ruled against President Joe Biden’s plan to wipe away your student loan debt and decided to allow certain businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people. Here’s ABC’s M. Win from the Supreme Court.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
In a major Supreme Court decision impacting the LGBTQ+ community, justices ruled six to three in favor of an evangelical Christian web designer from Colorado who refused to work on same-sex weddings. The six conservatives on the court held the first amendment right to free speech, bars the state from forcing the plaintiff, Lori Smith, from creating designs with messages to which she disagrees. Colorado’s anti-discrimination law prohibits discriminating against LGBTQ+ people and requires that any business that’s open to the public must serve all equally. Smith claimed obeying that law would force her to endorse gay marriage and violate her first amendment right.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
A website is my canvas, and I cherish the freedom to express unique and custom messages that celebrate causes that I’m passionate about.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that Colorado would seek to force Smith to defy her conscience about a matter of major significance. The dissent firing back with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing, there has been a backlash to the movement for liberty and equality. New forms of inclusion have been met with reactionary exclusion. This is heartbreaking.
(01:29)
And the Supreme Court also dealt a major defeat to the Biden administration, ruling against the President’s student loan forgiveness program, which would have wiped out up to $20,000 in debt for millions of borrowers. The White House had approved the plan under the HEROES Act, but Republican states pushed back, accusing the administration of executive overreach. The court of agreed with the states. A source within the White House says they strongly disagree with this ruling against Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, saying the president is not done fighting yet. At the Supreme Court, M. Win, ABC News.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yesterday we learned the Supreme Court’s conservative majority struck down affirmative action policies at Harvard and University of North Carolina. The six to three ruling effectively ends race as a consideration in college admissions nationwide.