by IcePack on Thu Jul 26, 2012 4:24 pm
Taken from an interesting article I read:
Chicago became the latest city to tell Chick-fil-A it isn't welcome because its president doesn't support gay marriage, legal experts said the communities don't have a drumstick to stand on.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel became the second big-city mayor to blast the company over president Dan Cathy's comment last week that he is “guilty as charged” for supporting the traditional definition of marriage. Emanuel spoke up after Alderman Proco Joe Moreno announced he intends to block the chain from opening its second Chicago location over his stance.
But barring the popular fast-food restaurant over the personal views of Cathy is an “open and shut” discrimination case, says legal experts.
“The government can regulate discrimination in employment or against customers, but what the government cannot do is to punish someone for their words,” said Adam Schwartz, senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “When an alderman refuses to allow a business to open because its owner has expressed a viewpoint the government disagrees with, the government is practicing viewpoint discrimination.”
The ACLU “strongly supports” same-sex marriage, Schwartz said, but noted that if a government can exclude a business for being against same-sex marriage, it can also exclude a business for being in support of same-sex marriage.
“But we also support the First Amendment,” he said. “We don’ think the government should exclude Chick-fil-A because of the anti-LGBT message. We believe this is clear cut.”
Jonathan Turley, a professor at the George Washington University Law School, said Moreno’s intentions raises “serious” constitutional concerns.
“It’s also a very slippery slope,” Turley said. “If a City Council started to punish companies because of the viewpoints of their chief operating officers, that would become a very long list of banned companies.”
If Moreno did indeed put such a plan into action, it would be “excessive and likely unconstitutional,” Turley said.
Wilson Huhn, a professor and associate director of the Constitutional Law Center at The University of Akron School of Law, echoed Turley’s stance, saying that a denial on behalf of Moreno regarding a second Chick-fil-A restaurant in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood would “absolutely” violate the First Amendment.
“It would be an open and shut case,” Huhn said. “You can’t do that. They cannot be denied a zoning permit based upon the viewpoint of their CEO.”
Moreno and Emanuel can express their personal opinion on the matter, Huhn said, including the organization of boycotts and protests against the fast food chain.
“But if official action were taken against Chick-fil-A based upon their opposition to same-sex marriage by denying them permits or to prevent their restaurant from expanding, that would absolutely be viewpoint discrimination,” Huhn said.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the owner and operator of Chicago’s only Chick-fil-A restaurant — which created 97 jobs in the past year — invited Emanuel to meet with her. The invitation came after Emanuel said opening a second location in the city would be a “bad investment” following Moreno’s statement.
In a statement, Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Emanuel, said that the mayor said that Cathy did not share Chicago’s values.
“He did not say that he would block or play any role in the company opening a new restaurant here,” Hamilton said in a statement. “If they meet all the usual requirements, then they can open their restaurant, but their values aren't reflective of our city.”
The Atlanta-based chain declined to comment for this story.
Reached by phone Thursday, Moreno first appeared to back away from his stance, saying traffic concerns drive his objections to the store. But when pressed, Moreno refused to back off his criticism of Cathy’s position on same-sex marriage.
“No, I’m not saying that, I’m not walking back about from that,” Moreno said when asked if his objection to the restaurant has nothing to do with Cathy’s beliefs. “That’s another part of it .. I think businesses should be neutral on that. They should be selling chicken.”
Last week, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald that “it will be very difficult” for Chick-fil-A to obtain licenses for a restaurant in Boston. But on Thursday, Menino backed away from that threat, saying he won’t actively block the chain.
“I can’t do that,” he told the Herald. “That would be interference to his rights to go there.”
Last edited by
IcePack on Thu Jul 26, 2012 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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