Imagine a state law prohibited businesses from discriminating against anyone based on their political beliefs. Now imagine a state government agency fined a newspaper for refusing to print an op-ed opposing gun control. Imagine the same agency fined a Muslim-owned a screen printing business because the company refused an order for t-shirts portraying an image of the Prophet Mohammed.

I doubt any judge in the entire country would uphold either fine, nor should they. Such punitive government actions violate two core principles of our nation’s founding: that the government has no right to prohibit any person from practicing their religion or exercising their freedom of speech.