Biden-appointed judge upholds Washtenaw Democrats’ assault on First Amendment rights

In 2023, Washt­e­naw Coun­ty House Reps. Feli­cia Brabec, Jim­mie Wil­son, Jr., Car­rie Rhein­gans, Jen­nifer Con­lin and Jason Mor­gan (along with oth­er Michi­gan Reps.) co-spon­sored House Bill 4616 of 2023 (now Pub­lic Act 117 of 2023), a ban on what Democ­rats call “con­ver­sion ther­a­py” that would force coun­selors to “affirm” chil­dren’s beliefs that they were born the “wrong” sex or gen­der.

Although the right to prac­tice and receive med­i­cine should also be pro­tect­ed from gov­ern­ment infringe­ment, the right to free speech and reli­gion is pro­tect­ed by the First Amend­ment, and the law infringes upon all of these.

As argued by the Beck­ett Fund for Reli­gious Lib­er­ty, the same orga­ni­za­tion that suc­cess­ful­ly defend­ed the right of Hob­by Lob­by to opt out of con­tra­cep­tion cov­er­age man­dates under the Afford­able Care Act:

 HB 4616 harms vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren by depriv­ing them of the com­pas­sion­ate coun­sel­ing they so des­per­ate­ly need. Instead of allow­ing coun­selors to help chil­dren explore the under­ly­ing fac­tors that may be con­tribut­ing to their dis­tress, and to help them accept and embrace their bio­log­i­cal sex, HB 4616 forces coun­selors to “affirm” chil­dren in the belief that they were born in the wrong body and help them under­go per­ma­nent, life-alter­ing med­ical pro­ce­dures that many will come to regret. […]

“Plain­tiffs believe that when a client comes to them and seeks to change her gen­der iden­ti­ty or gen­der expres­sion to align with her bio­log­i­cal sex, or seeks to change her behav­ior to refrain from act­ing on same-sex attrac­tion, it is their eth­i­cal and reli­gious duty to help that client live the life she desires to live.

By help­ing clients address under­ly­ing trau­ma and heal from past expe­ri­ences, Plain­tiffs have often seen clients change their behav­ior and gen­der expres­sion in ways that bet­ter align with the clients’ own reli­gious beliefs and the clients’ own goals for their lives — includ­ing by accept­ing and embrac­ing their bio­log­i­cal sex and by refrain­ing from sex­u­al activ­i­ty out­side of male-female mar­riage.”

Biden-appoint­ed fed­er­al judge Jane Beck­er­ing has ignored the Con­sti­tu­tion and denied a peti­tion seek­ing to block the law from tak­ing effect, false­ly claim­ing that “there is no evi­dence that the new law vio­lates any con­sti­tu­tion­al rights of due process, expres­sion of reli­gion or free speech.”

Beck­er­ing was the Demo­c­rat Par­ty nom­i­nee for Michi­gan Supreme Court in 2006. Beck­er­ing was con­firmed by the U.S. Sen­ate to the fed­er­al bench in 2021 on a 45–25 vote. Lisa Murkows­ki and Susan Collins were the only two Repub­li­cans to sup­port her con­fir­ma­tion.

The motion was to issue an injunc­tion on the law. The case must con­tin­ue to play out in Beck­er­ing’s court­room with a pre-deter­mined out­come before the Beck­ett Fund can appeal.