Religious Objections Group To Appeal

Conservative religious groups are planning to appeal an Indiana judge’s ruling that canceled a trial, challenging limits on the state’s religious objections law that were signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence. An attorney for the groups filed the notice but hasn’t yet submitted any arguments regarding the appeal. That action comes after an Ohio judge ruled in November that the groups failed to prove they had faced any harm, agreeing with arguments the state and four cities made that the organizations lacked standing to sue. The lawsuit argues that the groups’ constitutional rights were violated by changes the Republican-dominated Legislature made to the 2015 law after a national uproar over whether it could be used to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Those revisions blocked its use as a legal defense for refusing to provide services and prevented the law from being used to override local ordinances with LGBT protections.