Business and corporate law PDF

Running Head: BUSINESS AND CORPORATION LAW 1
Memorandum
In the USA, many of the civil rights are granted to people, which give them a freedom to live in
the selected manner according to their will and choices. Civil rights can be considered as a right,
which prevents the issue of infringement of freedom of a person, by social organizations,
government, and other private individuals. On 20th January 2017, Donald John Trump became
45th President of USA1. During the very first year of his tenure on the post of president, the
nation has faced many issues related to civil rights. In the USA, some of the major civil rights are
as follow that have faced issues since Donald Trump became president:
LGBT Rights
Voting Rights
Religious Freedom
Racial Justice
Women's Rights and Reproductive Freedom2
The Memorandum presented hereby is focused on one of the civil rights namely religious
freedom. During the last one year, many people faced issues while using their civil right of
religious freedom. Authorities also have granted the decision in against of victims that lead the
issue of infringement of their religious freedom. Moving towards the selected topic for this
Memorandum, which is development in civil rights (Religious freedom) since Donald Trump
1 David Smith, Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th president of the United States the Guardian (2018),
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/20/president-donald-trump-inauguration-sworn-in (last visited Dec
9, 2018).
2 Donald Trump: Year One, American Civil Liberties Union (2018),
https://www.aclu.org/issues/executive-branch/donald-trump-year-one (last visited Dec 1, 2018).

Law and Economics Civil Rights
2
became president, this is to be stated that recently, in many of the cases, the judiciary has
provided the decision that prevented the practices of years. However, the development is not a
sole result of the judicial decision of a single case, but certain other administrative decisions also
acted as a force behind the same.
According to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, every citizen of US has a right to
practice her/his own religion or no religion.
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 584 U.S. ___ (2018)3
The case is very recent and significant in the sector of civil right. The same is significant due to
the decision of the Supreme Court that has made a new development in the sector of the religious
right. The issue of the case has been started when in the year 2012 when the same-sex couple
Craig and Mullins have visited Masterpiece Cakeshop to buy a cake for their wedding return
celebration4. The owner of the Cakeshop, Jack Phillips denied giving the cake to this couple
stating that he is a Christian and his religion do not allow him to prepare cakes for same-sex
couples5. Under state's public accommodations law, the couple has filed a complaint against the
owner of the Cakeshop with Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The commission has considered
the whole case and provided the decision in the favor of Craig and Mullins. In the reasoning of
the decision of the case, Commission stated that giving the decision in the favor of Cakeshop
owner can held an issue of the breach of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act6. This act
3Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 584 U.S. ___ (2018)
4 Supremecourt.gov (2018), https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111_j4el.pdf (last visited Dec 4,
2018).
5 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, American Civil Liberties Union (2018),
https://www.aclu.org/cases/masterpiece-cakeshop-v-colorado-civil-rights-commission (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
6 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission - Global Freedom of Expression, Global Freedom of
Expression (2018), https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/masterpiece-cakeshop-v-craig/ (last

Law and Economics Civil Rights
3
prohibits discrimination on the part of a business, which is open to the public based on the race,
religion, cast, gender, or sexual orientation of customers. Further, the commission not only
ordered to the cakeshop to provide cakes to the same-sex couples but also instructed the same to
provide 'comprehensive staff training with respect to public accommodations discrimination.
The Cakeshop owner further applied for an appeal to the Supreme Court and the court has denied
to hear the same. Afterward, Masterpiece Cakeshop made a petition to Supreme Court under the
writ of certiorari to reconsider the decision of the commission. This court became agree to hear
the appeal in the year 2017. Trump administration supported the cake shop owner. Although it
has been stated by many of the organization that giving the decision in the favor of Philips can
further be treated as a license to discriminate. After the oral arguments, the Supreme Court
reversed the decision of the commission and provided the final order in the favor of Masterpiece
Cakeshop. The court considered the right of free exercise of religion and hence in a manner the
Supreme Court has set the rights of same-sex couple aside7. This is a very recent development in
the field of religious right where a person is free to exercise his/her religion breaking the
provisions of Anti-discrimination Law and other civil rights (LGBTQ right) of people.
Issue
The decision brought out a lead issue in respect to the equal rights of a same-sex couple and
many of the judgments have presented their dissenting opinion. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and
Sonia Soto mayor wrote their dissenting opinion. The case is also significant for another reason
as earlier to this case; Supreme Court never provided any decision in which the provisions of
visited Dec 9, 2018).
7 Key points from Supreme Court ruling on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, The
Denver Post (2018), https://www.denverpost.com/2018/06/04/masterpiece-cakeshop-gay-wedding-cake-supreme-
court-ruling-key-points/ (last visited Dec 9, 2018).

Law and Economics Civil Rights
4
Anti-discrimination law have been breached8. The decision given in the masterpiece case has
been used as a reference in many of the subsequent cases, which lead out the issues of
discrimination by the people while using their religious right. After the administration of trump,
this is not the first case where such development has been made in the field of religious rights.
Many of the other cases are there which are pending for the review of Supreme Court where
petitioners are seeking the right of free exercise of their religion despite any discrimination law.
The case of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC & Aimee Stephens is relatively similar.
However, the final judgment from the side of the Supreme Court is still pending in this case. In
order to summarize this case, this is to mention that an employer of a person named Aimee
Stephens fired her because of her transgender status9. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has
provided the decision in favour of the employee and thereafter a writ of certiorari is pending with
Supreme Court by the side of the employer, as the employer believes that the decision granted by
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals prevented his right to exercise his religion10.
Policies of Trump Government
Religious freedom is an important civil right of a person, but the recent decisions of Supreme
Court and policies made by Trump administration are creating many issues not only for this civil
right but for another right too. The issue, which has been raised out of the decision of the
Supreme Court in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, is
ignorance of Anti-discrimination law. While discussing the impacts of trump's administration on
8 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Adflegal.org (2018),
http://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/case-details/masterpiece-cakeshop-v.-craig (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
9 R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC & Aimee Stephens, American Civil Liberties Union (2018),
https://www.aclu.org/cases/rg-gr-harris-funeral-homes-v-eeoc-aimee-stephens (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
10 Dana Shilling, Complete guide to human resources and the law.

Law and Economics Civil Rights
5
the development of religious freedom, immigration policies signed by this president are also
necessary to discuss. As a part of these policies, Trump has made two orders, which are well
known as Executive orders 13769 and 1378011. On 27th January 2017, Trump has signed
Executive Order 13769 by the virtue of which entry of the citizens belongs to Iraq, Libya, Sudan,
Somalia, Yemen, Iran, and Syria has been banned from USA irrespective of their VISA status12
As most of these countries consist of the large Muslim population, therefore the subjective orders
have been considered as a Muslim ban. Several lawsuits have been filed against this order and
State of Washington and State of Minnesota v. Trump, 847 F.3d 1151 (9th Cir. 2017)13 is one of
the significant ones. After the external forces and criticism on a huge level, Trump signed
another Executive order 13780 that replaced the earlier order 1367914. It required additional
security before the entrance of the people from countries like Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Iran,
Somalia, and Libya.
Trump v. Hawaii, No. 17-965, 585 U.S. ___ (2018)15
This case is far significant to study as it brought out an important development in the field of
religious right where Supreme Court allowed a writ of certiorari. The state of Hawaii initiated a
civil action against the executive orders of trump government. The same asked for an injunction
halting the order and a declaratory judgment. The amended complaint list specified eight issues
causing an action against the executive order. One of the issues was a violation of the Religious
11 Maureen T Duffy, Detention of terrorism suspects.
12 Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, Clearinghouse.net (2018), https://www.clearinghouse.net/results.php?
searchSpecialCollection=44 (last visited Dec 4, 2018).
13 State of Washington and State of Minnesota v. Trump, 847 F.3d 1151 (9th Cir. 2017)
14 Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States | The White House,
The White House (2018), https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-protecting-nation-
foreign-terrorist-entry-united-states-2/ (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
15 Trump v. Hawaii, No. 17-965, 585 U.S. ___ (2018)

Law and Economics Civil Rights
6
Freedom Restoration Act of 199316 On 15 March 2017, the US district court judge placed an
injunction to section 2 and 6 of executive order 13780 from coming into effect. After several
proceedings of the case before various authorities, on 26 June 2017, the supreme court of US
stayed the injunction placed by the lower court and also provided certiorari and set the oral
arguments.
On 24th September 2017, president Trump signed a new presidential proclamation that again
became an issue. The Supreme Court canceled the hearing and allowed the travel ban. United
States courts of appeals for the ninth circuit stated and ruled that in the course of passing
executive orders, the government exceeded it are the scope of powers. Then after trump
government made a petition to Supreme Court for writ of certiorari. In the final decision of the
case, Supreme Court allowed this writ and enforced the travel ban17.
This case led out a very significant impact on the religious right of the people. Because of the
decision of the Supreme Court, people from Muslim countries faced a ban when coming to the
US. People faced the issue just for a baseless reason which was their religion. Trump
administration was liable for the same. According to the civil rights granted by the legislation to
the citizen of US, a person can freely practice any of the religion and no one can make the
discrimination based on religion. In the following section, the discussion will be made on the
people who have affected with the decision of the Supreme Court along with the future
challenges and opportunities that this development has created.
Who has affected?
16 Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
17 Trump v. State of Hawai'i and Elshikh - Global Freedom of Expression, Global Freedom of Expression (2018),
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/state-hawaii-elshikh-v-trump/ (last visited Dec 9, 2018).

Law and Economics Civil Rights
7
According to the immigrant advocacy groups, total numbers of people that have affected by the
subjective ban were more than 135 million18. Among these people, around 80 million were from
Iran only. By reviewing the number of affected people, this can be understood easily that how
big a loss it was. Court's Majority said that it was not an exclusive ban on Muslims but was only
a government process granting exceptions. However, this does not seems to be correct as all
these countries were Islamic countries. The country which has been most affected by this
Muslim ban was Iran. Because of the long-estranged relationship of Iran with the USA, many of
the students were used to come to the USA for their studies which became impossible after this
ban19. Therefore, in conclusion, this is to be stated that citizens of these seven countries affected
badly by the orders and ban placed by Trump administration.
Challenges/Opportunities
Muslim ban was not the only development in the sector of the religious right but another one is
also there which is right of public accommodators to make discrimination in order to safeguard
their religious right. Both of these developments is an open challenge to the civil rights of the
citizens. In one case, people are open to freely exercise their religious right and in such a manner
they can avoid the application of Anti-discrimination law. The development can be beneficial for
one person but the same lead negative results for another. In the future, people who provide
public accommodation can act according to their religion and can freely exercise the same. On
the different side, petitioners who are the client or customers of such accommodation will have
to face discrimination that will affect another civil right such as LGBT rights.
18 Trump’s Travel Ban: How It Works and Who Is Affected, Nytimes.com (2018),
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/americas/travel-ban-trump-how-it-works.html (last visited Dec 9,
2018).
19 Nytimes.com. (2018). Trump’s Travel Ban: How It Works and Who Is Affected. [online] Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/americas/travel-ban-trump-how-it-works.html [Accessed 9 Dec. 2018].

Law and Economics Civil Rights
8
Moving towards the other development which is Muslim ban, this is to be stated that plaintiff of
the case i.e. affected people would have to suffer from a huge economic and social loss. The ban
not only impacted the students but many other businesses also get affected. Trump
administration stated the reasoning behind this ban as a national security. The president trump
faced so much criticism and in future too, the same is expected. The policies of trump
government and executive orders are expected to create an adverse impact on government as
well on the on the citizens of seven countries. Breach of someone's civil right is not a common
thing. By allowing the ban, Supreme Court made a historical amendment that put a question
mark on the religious freedom right of citizens and this would not be wrongful to state that since
trump became president, religious freedom being a matter of debate.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to state that that trump administration has created many issues in the field of
religious freedom. Many of the cases have happened there when Supreme Court granted decision
in respect to the religious right that led out many issues. In the presented memorandum, focused
was made in such cases. Two of them namely Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights
Commission and Trump v. Hawaii have been discussed in detail. These decisions put a limit on
the right of Christian and Muslims mainly. In the past where they could use their right of
religious freedom, the situation is different now. People think that in order to comply with other
laws, their right of religious freedom limits somewhere certainly. Civil liberties union was
another party who played a vital role in many of such incidents. The situation was completely
different before the trump administration as people were enjoying their rights of religious
freedom earlier. However, in recent years, apart from government policies, the Supreme Court

Law and Economics Civil Rights
9
also interpreted civil right law in a different manner and allowed a writ of certiorari that further
developed an issue. In order to review the future, this is to mention that it is going typical for the
citizens to carry out their right of religious freedom. Further, if they will do so, then another civil
right will face danger.

Law and Economics Civil Rights
10
Bibliography
Case Laws
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 584 U.S. ___ (2018)
State of Washington and State of Minnesota v. Trump, 847 F.3d 1151 (9th Cir. 2017)
Trump v. Hawaii, No. 17-965, 585 U.S. ___ (2018
Legislations
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
Books/Journals
Dana Shilling, Complete guide to human resources and the law.
Maureen T Duffy, Detention of terrorism suspects.
Other sources
Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, Clearinghouse.net (2018),
https://www.clearinghouse.net/results.php?searchSpecialCollection=44 (last visited Dec 4,
2018).
David Smith, Donald Trump sworn in as 45th president of the United States the Guardian
(2018), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/20/president-donald-trump-
inauguration-sworn-in (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
Donald Trump: Year One, American Civil Liberties Union (2018),
https://www.aclu.org/issues/executive-branch/donald-trump-year-one (last visited Dec 1, 2018).

Law and Economics Civil Rights
11
Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States |
The White House, The White House (2018),
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-protecting-nation-foreign-
terrorist-entry-united-states-2/ (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
Key points from Supreme Court ruling on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights
Commission, The Denver Post (2018), https://www.denverpost.com/2018/06/04/masterpiece-
cakeshop-gay-wedding-cake-supreme-court-ruling-key-points/ (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission - Global Freedom of Expression,
Global Freedom of Expression (2018),
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/masterpiece-cakeshop-v-craig/ (last
visited Dec 9, 2018).
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Adflegal.org (2018),
http://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/case-details/masterpiece-cakeshop-v.-craig (last visited Dec
9, 2018).
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, American Civil Liberties Union
(2018), https://www.aclu.org/cases/masterpiece-cakeshop-v-colorado-civil-rights-commission
(last visited Dec 9, 2018).
Nytimes.com. (2018). Trump’s Travel Ban: How It Works and Who Is Affected. [online]
Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/americas/travel-ban-trump-how-it-
works.html [Accessed 9 Dec. 2018].

Law and Economics Civil Rights
12
R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC & Aimee Stephens, American Civil Liberties Union
(2018), https://www.aclu.org/cases/rg-gr-harris-funeral-homes-v-eeoc-aimee-stephens (last
visited Dec 9, 2018).
Supremecourt.gov (2018), https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111_j4el.pdf (last
visited Dec 4, 2018).
Trump v. State of Hawai'i and Elshikh - Global Freedom of Expression, Global Freedom of
Expression (2018), https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/state-hawaii-elshikh-
v-trump/ (last visited Dec 9, 2018).
Trump’s Travel Ban: How It Works and Who Is Affected, Nytimes.com (2018),
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/americas/travel-ban-trump-how-it-works.html (last
visited Dec 9, 2018).