Supreme Court Cases – R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Opportunity Commission

The U. S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on this case today. It is bound to be a landmark case. Harris Funeral Homes is being represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a firm protecting the constitutionally protected religious freedom and rights of the Christian community. You can read the details of this case on the ADF’s website here

The question before the Court will be whether the funeral home engaged in sexual discrimination when one of its funeral directors requested to operate within the business as transgendered. The owner of the family business, Tom, refused and the two parted ways. A lawsuit ensued, which has now made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal employment law does not currently include sexual orientation as a protected class in private business. 

If the Harris Funeral Homes wins the case, it will enforce the fact that only Congress can make laws. Judges can only interpret, not create, law. If the Supreme Court sides with the EEOC, there may be many repercussions. “Sex”, currently meaning “male or female”, will be redefined to include “gender orientation”. Equal opportunities for women could be undermined. More importantly, private employers, such as Tom, may be forced to position employees in situations that violate the privacy of other employees or even the clients or customers their businesses serve. The website has examples of these situations.

We believe that the civil rights of all individuals are currently protected under the law. Therefore, making sexual orientation a special protected class, beyond male or female, is unnecessary. 

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27; ESV)

“The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31; ESV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

  • Check your heart attitude before you intercede today. Intercede from a position of love and justice, not one of anger and hatred.
  • Stand in the gap between what is and ought to be in the R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Opportunity Commission case.
  • Pray for wisdom, truth, and influence for the attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom, who are representing the funeral home. They are also representing the constitutionally protected right of religious freedom for all private business owners. 
  • Pray for Tom and bless his family business. 
  • Pray for the unnamed funeral director that filed suit against Tom. Ask God to minister to the deepest needs of his heart and life, and pray that he would know the very real love that God has for him through Jesus’ great sacrifice for him. 
  • Intercede for each of the Supreme Court Justices. The reason this case is before the Court today is because lower court judges have legislated from the bench. Judges are appointed, not elected, and their role is not to create federal legislation that the U. S. Congress has not made. Straighten this out in the spirit realm.
  • Begin to familiarize yourself with the Supreme Court’s processes, calendar and cases. Here is the 2019-2020 docket.

A prayer you can pray:

Father, I come before You today and ask You to judge the condition of my heart, so I might intercede for this case and my nation correctly. I need to see this situation as You see it. You love everyone involved and I pray each and every one involved would come to know that love. I pray for Tom and I bless his business. I pray for the funeral director and ask that he might come to know You as the lover and the savior of his soul. Our U. S. Constitution has laid out laws for us that we must all live by. Wherever they have been unjust and inequitable in the past, they have needed changed and have been changed. I am thankful for that and do not desire that anyone should be denied their equal rights under the law. I believe our current laws provide those protections to men and women of all races and religious persuasions. I do not believe one group should receive special protections over another. This is where Your wisdom and intervention are needed. I intercede for the attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom as they present this case before the U. S. Supreme Court today. I pray for each Supreme Court Justice. Let them judge with righteous judgement, as led by the Constitution, and not by their political persuasions. Stop them from making laws from the bench! That is the role of the Congress, our legislative branch of government. Lord, let Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in this nation today in Jesus’ name. amen.

Today’s decree:

The U. S. Supreme Court justices will not make law, but only verify that the laws of the land line up with the U. S. Constitution.


Note: The Supreme Court Justices will deliberate on this later in the week and their decision will be made known at a much later date, perhaps as late as June 2020. Pray for the rest of the week regarding this case, as the justices decide how to act on what they hear today.