No. 21-649

Walder Vacuflo, Inc. v. Illinois Human Rights Commission, et al.

Lower Court: Illinois
Docketed: 2021-11-02
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Tags: access-to-courts circuit-split civil-rights discrimination due-process first-amendment fourteenth-amendment free-speech human-rights-commission religious-freedom standing
Key Terms:
FirstAmendment DueProcess
Latest Conference: 2022-01-07
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Whether the Illinois Supreme Court and Appel late Court's refusal to consider this matter violates the First and Fourteenth Amend ment rights of Petitioner Walder Vacuflo, Inc. to access to the Courts (by arbitrarily dismissing its appeal due to a procedural snafu).

2. Whether the decision below against Petitioner was out of step with this Court's recent decisions in Masterpiece Cake Shop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Com'n, et al. , 171 S.Ct. 1719 (2018) ; and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia , 2021 U.S. LEXIS 3121, *23 -24, 141 S. Ct. 1868, 28 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 882, 2021 WL 2459253 ( U.S. June 17, 2021), and as such, does a circuit split exist between the Third and Tenth Circuits (in which the Fulton and Masterpiece cases were decided favorably towards the business proprietors asserting religious freedom) and the Seventh Circuit (which covers the juris diction of Illinois in which the Petitioner's religious freedom and access to the courts under the First and Fourteenth Amend ment s has been violated by the Illinois Human Rights Com mission).

3. Whether the Illinois Human Rights Com mission (IHRC) violated Petitioner's First and Fourteenth Amend ment s under the U.S. Constitution, to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, when it found Petitioner liable for discriminating against Respondents Mark and Todd Wathen because of their sexual orientation by deny ing them public accommodations, and assessing damages and attor ney's fees again st Petitioner totaling $80,000, and ordering Petitioner to cease and desist from disallowing same sex weddings to be perform ed on its premises, and ordering it to allow same sex weddings on its premises ( includ ing for Respond ents Mark and Todd Wathen).

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Illinois Supreme Court and Appellate Court's refusal to consider this matter violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Petitioner Walder Vacuflo, Inc. to access to the Courts

Docket Entries

2022-01-10
Petition DENIED.
2021-12-15
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/7/2022.
2021-11-09
Application (21A131) denied by Justice Barrett.
2021-11-02
Application (21A131) for a stay, submitted to Justice Barrett.
2021-10-28
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 2, 2021)

Attorneys

Walder Vacuflo, Inc.
Jason Robert Craddock Sr.Jason R. Craddock, Attorney at Law, Petitioner