Headlines
Law expert: SCOTUS ruling leaves intact antidiscrimination law for religious exemptions
LAWRENCE — The Supreme Court announced today a unanimous ruling stating the City of Philadelphia could not bar a Catholic agency from working with the city on foster care cases. The city originally made the move because of the agency’s policy against working with samesex couples. Kyle Velte, a law expert on discrimination, employment and sexual orientation, is available to speak with media about the ruling.
AP move to not name suspects in coverage of minor crimes is ‘a positive one,’ expert says
LAWRENCE — The Associated Press has announced it will no longer name suspects charged with minor crimes in its news coverage. The move is intended to prevent news about minor transgressions from living on via the internet and interfering with people’s chances to get jobs, run for office or move on with their lives.
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Contact: Mike Krings, 785-864-8860, [email protected]
Law expert: SCOTUS ruling leaves intact antidiscrimination law for religious exemptions
LAWRENCE — The Supreme Court announced today a unanimous ruling stating the City of Philadelphia could not bar a Catholic agency from working with the city on foster care cases. The city originally made the move because of the agency’s policy against working with samesex couples. Kyle Velte, a law expert on discrimination, employment and sexual orientation, is available to speak with media about the ruling.
The decision is largely viewed as a narrow decision that largely preserves existing antidiscrimination law. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that because the city’s contract with its agencies allows exceptions from the contract’s antidiscrimination provision in some instances, it must also consider them for the religious organization.
Velte, associate professor of law at the University of Kansas School of Law, has researched and written extensively on discrimination in the law. Velte can comment on the ruling, its effects, religious rights vs. individual rights, arguments behind the case, similar discrimination cases and related topics.
“While not the comprehensive victory sought by LGBTQ-rights advocates, today’s decision leaves largely intact the existing law concerning the applicability of state and local antidiscrimination law in the face of requests for religious exemptions,” Velte said. “The Court rested its fact-specific ruling on the city’s contract with Catholic Social Services, rather than on the City of Philadelphia’s antidiscrimination law. In considering this as a case about a contract, rather than as a case triggering the city’s antidiscrimination law, the Court left open the question of whether public accommodations, such as wedding photographers, must be granted First Amendment religious exemptions from state and local public accommodation laws that would permit them to turn away same-sex couples.”
Velte wrote an amicus brief for the Supreme Court in the Fulton v. City of Philadelphia case as well as in similar cases R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, United States v. Windsor, Obergefell v. Hodges and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. She has also published research on the intersection of sexuality, gender and the law in the Minnesota Law Review, Yale Law & Policy Review, Cardozo Law Review and Connecticut Law Review.
To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860, [email protected] or @MikeKrings.
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Contact: Mike Krings, 785-864-8860, [email protected]
AP move to not name suspects in coverage of minor crimes is ‘a positive one,’ expert says
LAWRENCE — The Associated Press has announced it will no longer name suspects charged with minor crimes in its news coverage. The move is intended to prevent news about minor transgressions from living on via the internet and interfering with people’s chances to get jobs, run for office or move on with their lives.
Chris Etheridge, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications at the University of Kansas, is available to speak with media about the policy change, its implication, journalism ethics involved in the decision, what it means for individuals who will no longer be named in such stories, the AP’s relationship with regional communities and related topics.
“The Associated Press is recognizing that an arrest is only part of a story and journalists are at their best when they focus on telling accurate and complete stories about and with their communities,” Etheridge said. “For many reasons, this decision by the Associated Press is a positive one. I hope it encourages other news organizations to look closely at their crime reporting policies as well.”
Etheridge, an expert in media representations of crime and community storytelling, does research in the ability of media to serve the information-seeking behaviors of community groups, as well as adoption of new technologies in rural areas as well as the relationship between news organizations and their audiences. He is available to discuss how the AP’s new policy will influence its relationships with communities, especially in cases where naming a suspect only carries interest primarily in a local region, and how including those names has affected individuals in the past.
To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860, [email protected] or @MikeKrings.
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