Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was wise to announce he will seek to amend the Hoosier State's Religious Freedom law to make it clear that the law "does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone," Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday on
Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."
"The statute itself is fine, it's the absence of a corollary statute that says that you can't discriminate based on sexual preference or national origin, or race or gender and sexual preference (that) is left out," said Dershowitz.
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"So when you combine this statute with the absence of the statute protecting sexual orientation, it can be construed as an invitation to bigotry and discrimination. We have to have a balance here. I mean, I wouldn't want to see a statute that said that a Catholic priest had to marry two men, or an Orthodox rabbi had to perform a marriage of two men, or somebody who had deeply felt religious beliefs had to violate his religious beliefs.
"We have to balance religious beliefs against our deep commitment regarding discrimination, and this statute doesn't do that. But I would not favor a statute that eliminated completely some protection for deeply held religious beliefs when there are alternatives."
Following an outcry from gay, lesbian and transgender groups, and from Americans across the country — along with threats of boycotts, Pence on Tuesday said he would move legislation this week to clarify the law.
Following Pence's news conference, Dershowitz noted that "pressure works."
"Clearly he was capitulating to the external pressure to boycott Indiana if this law wasn't amended to specifically guarantee equal protection to gay-lesbian couples. And he's agreed with that and he's going to change it and that will fix the law," he said. "The law as fixed will probably be better than the law in some other states, which don't give specific protection to gay and lesbian couples."
It's imperative, he added, that there is balance struck between religious freedom and the right to not face discrimination.
Dershowitz also weighed in on a
nuclear deal with Iran and a framework that would reportedly continue the negotiations through June. He wants to make sure the Obama administration's strong desire for a deal at any cost does not result in over-compromising.
"Congress is looking over their shoulder and that's the right thing," said Dershowitz, author of
"Terror Tunnels: The Case for Israel's Just War Against Hamas."
"The Constitution is working well when Congress looks over the shoulder of the president and says, we're not going to approve a deal if you back away and give the Iranians everything they want without demanding from them considerable compromise."
While he supports President Barack Obama's domestic policies, Dershowitz said he parts with him on foreign policy matters.
"They have a worldview which is inconsistent with that of Congress," he said. "They trust Iran to change over the next 10 years or 15 years and that seems to be putting hope over reality. If the deal is bad enough, they may have enough votes to override a presidential veto."
He offered some advice for the president:
"Stick to your allies, make sure that you don't abandon the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Israelis in the quest or hope that maybe you'll be able to change Iran.
"Make a deal that's enforceable, verifiable and that has consequences if it's broken. Show some backbone, become a better and tougher negotiator, and then I can continue to support you."
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