U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Catholic Social Services, a foster care agency that refuses to compromise its religious beliefs by placing children with same-sex couples. The High Court’s decision in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia has a significant impact on every area of the free exercise of religion freedom. Six justices joined in the full opinion (Chief Justice Roberts, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Barrett), but all justices joined in the judgment in favor of Catholic Social Services. Barrett filed a concurring opinion, in which Kavanaugh, and Breyer joined, stating that this case triggered strict scrutiny, and thus there was no reason to overrule the case of Employment Division v. Smith. Alito wrote a 77-page concurrence, in which Thomas and Gorsuch joined, arguing that the 1990 Smith decision should be overturned. Gorsuch filed an opinion concurring in the judgement, in which Thomas, and Alito joined, also arguing that Smith should be overturned. In Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, Catholic Social Services and two foster parents, the late Cecilia Paul and Sharonell Fulton – who have fostered more than 140 children collectively, asked the Supreme Court to revisit Employment Division v. Smith. The Smith decision weakened the […]
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