The right to religious freedom could very well tangle with the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states, says former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey, a partner at Coffey Burlington LLC in Miami.
"Most expected that it would come down the way it did, an extended constitutional right to same-sex marriage," Coffey said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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"[But] what about those whose religious beliefs are such that as private actors they do not want to participate in for example same-sex marriage? That's come up a lot."
Coffey said the language of Justice [Anthony] Kennedy's opinion was particularly interesting.
"He describes that the First Amendment provides protection of religious organizations and people so that they have proper protection in terms of adhering to their principles," Coffey said.
"His opinion obviously was very strong in support of same-sex marriage. I thought he was signaling that there may be some interest in looking at what are the religious protections extended to those as private individuals who disagree."
Coffey said the courts may have to walk a fine line in the future as issues of religious principles.
"Under some state laws they have fined or they have punished people who, for example, did not want to participate in a gay marriage as a photographer or florist, things like that based on what were apparently sincerely held religious principles," he said.
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