Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the Supreme Court this week to hear a case over disqualifying jurors based on their Christian beliefs, saying the Constitution doesn’t support religious discrimination.
Missouri’s top cop claims a trial court struck jurors from considering Jean Finney’s employment discrimination claims against her employer, the state’s department of corrections, simply because they held Christian beliefs, a move he says was unlawful because the trial court had found the jurors could be unbiased.
“Jurors can be excluded, of course, if their religious views in fact make them biased — just like jurors can be excluded if their race or sex in fact makes them biased. But this court’s precedents make clear that courts cannot assume, based on stereotypes about race or sex, that a person will be biased. The same ought to be true with religion,” Mr. Bailey’s court filing read.
Ms. Finney’s lawyer had moved to remove the potential jurors during jury selection due to his client being lesbian, according to the attorney general’s filing.
Her lawyer allegedly asked jurors if they held conservative Christian beliefs, and after some said that they did, the attorney said, “I don’t think that you can ever rehabilitate yourself, no matter what.”
The filing noted that the trial court reasoned the jurors could be “absolutely fair and impartial” despite holding Christian beliefs — but the court agreed to disqualify the jurors “to err on the side of caution.”
That move, Mr. Bailey said, runs afoul of the Constitution.
“As attorney general, I will protect the Constitution and Missourians’ right to be free from religious discrimination, which is explicitly enshrined in the Constitution,” Mr. Bailey said. “The Constitution isn’t up for debate. My office will use every legal mechanism available to us to defend the fundamental right to be free from religious discrimination, inside and outside of the jury box.”
It would take four justices to vote in favor of hearing the case, Missouri Department of Corrections v. Jean Finney.
A lawyer representing Ms. Finney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the state’s petition to the high court.
The case arose when Ms. Finney began a relationship with a coworker’s ex-spouse.
She says the coworker spread false rumors about her at work and harassed her, making it hard to do her job. She sued the state’s correctional department, alleging it was responsible for the conduct under the Missouri Human Rights Act.
The jury ruled in favor of Ms. Finney. The state has petitioned for a new trial due to the fact some jurors were struck based on Christian beliefs.
The lower court, though, denied the state’s request for a new trial, prompting Mr. Bailey to take the case to the Supreme Court.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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