Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 961328.pdf

Citation: Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 961328.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Source verification: official_capture_completeness_unverified
Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/961328.pdf ↗

Related Parts of This Source

Full Text

1,738 chars

welfare, health, and peace of the people of this state, and in fulfillment of the
provisions of the Constitution of this state concerning civil rights. The
legislature hereby finds and declares that practices of discrimination against
any of its inhabitants because of race, creed, color, national origin,
citizenship or immigration status, families with children, sex, marital status,
sexual orientation, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, or
the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a
trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability are a matter
of state concern, that such discrimination threatens not only the rights and
proper privileges of its inhabitants but menaces the institutions and
foundation of a free democratic state.

In the context at issue, WLAD’s stated goal is quite simply the “elimination and

prevention of discrimination in employment.” Id.

While legislatures sometimes include blanket exemptions for religious

organizations in various statutes, and such exemptions may reflect legislative

attempts to safeguard free exercise rights, see State v. Arlene’s Flowers, Inc., 193

Wn.2d 469, 520, 441 P.3d 1203 (2019), there is no evidence of that here. Contrary

to the majority’s characterization, WLAD’s stated goal or purpose does not

encompass safeguarding the free exercise of religion (or avoiding excessive

entanglement with religion). See generally RCW 49.60.010. And we are not free to

infer or “hypothesize” such a goal simply because the exemption exists. See

Schroeder, 179 Wn.2d at 574 (“Under the reasonable ground test a court will not

hypothesize facts to justify a legislative distinction.”). Doing so risks the reasonable