CNN’s Van Jones said Friday the First Amendment was being used as a shied for bigotry after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Christian web designer.
The court sided with Christian web designer Lorie Smith in a 6-3 ruling Friday after Smith challenged the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), a law that prohibits public accommodations from restricting services based on sexual orientation. The court ruled Smith is protected under the First Amendment from creating websites for same-sex couples on the basis of her religious beliefs.
“This is a legitimacy crisis brought on by a conservative movement that saw it was losing public opinion, losing a generation to more inclusive ideas. So now they are using the supreme court to slam shut the door of hope, the door of opportunity for generations of Americans.”
“Now the First Amendment is being used as a shield for bigotry. The first amendment is being used as a shield for discrimination.”
“This is dangerous stuff,” Jones continued. “Because when you have a legitimacy crisis for the court, you have a legitimacy crisis for the country. You could imagine now a younger generation of Americans looking at the Supreme Court that is so out of touch with their reality. I’m a young black kid, you just made affirmative action no longer helpful to me, it’s hard for me to get an education. Now you say it’s hard for me to pay off my student loans. My cousin or my best friend or myself who might be gay or lesbian, any store they walk into they might get discriminated against, the Supreme Court says it’s okay.”
He argued the court is going against the younger generation and willing to “strike down precedent.” He further claimed the court is not “conservative” but is instead participating in an “anti-liberal revolution.”
“I think it’s a very, very bad moment for the country. Obviously if you’re an Asian parent, you might breathe a sigh of relief. There has been a sense they’ve had to work harder than others. But, to pit black and brown kids against Asian kids, and to leave out the legacy of both. These white folks on Ivy League campuses are there because their grandaddy was there. My grandaddy couldn’t be there, and the Supreme Court says ‘I don’t care.’ This is bad. This is bad.”
The court’s Thursday decision ruled race-based admissions in universities violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (RELATED: Affirmative Action Ruling Will Bring Back ‘Segregated’ Universities, MSNBC Guest Says)
The justices also ruled Friday The Heroes Act does not authorize the Secretary of Education to use emergency authority to cancel student loan debt.