Newswise — Gov. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) was correct to veto Georgia’s House Bill 757, also known as the “religious liberty” bill, said an expert in constitutional law.

The bill provided that religious officials not be required to perform marriage ceremonies in violation of their legal right to free exercise of religion. Opponents said a more controversial portion would allow businesses and individuals to withhold services from gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people on grounds of religious liberty.

“Georgians have all the religious liberty they need under the First Amendment and Georgia law,” said Eric Segall, Kathy and Lawrence Ashe Professor of Law at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

The First Amendment protects clergy from having to perform any marriages they object to, he said.

In a press conference, Deal said he could not find any examples of what the bill seeks to protect religious organizations and people of faith against occurring in Georgia, such as businesses in New Mexico and Colorado charged by their respective states for refusing to provide services for same-sex weddings.

In both cases, the governor mentioned, each state has a law protecting LGBT persons from discrimination. Georgia has no such statute.

Even so, Segall said HB 757 was mostly about discrimination. “Deal did the right thing for the people of Georgia,” he said.

Segall is the author of Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court is not a Court and its Justices are not Judges and countless scholarly articles about the constitutional law and the court.

He has been widely quoted in media outlets such as CNN and appears regularly on the national XM Radio show StandUp with Pete Dominick. Read Segall’s bio at http://law.gsu.edu/profile/eric-j-segall.