Congress has mandated that the date of the signing of the Constitution, Sept. 17, 1787, be commemorated. Prior to COVID-19, schools, colleges, and communities would have public gatherings to celebrate Constitution Day. Similar celebrations are impossible this year, because COVID-19 has forced so many of our public institutions to operate…
Wisconsin Supreme Court Agrees to Hear WILL Challenge to Dane County School Closure Order
The News : The Wisconsin Supreme Court granted an original action brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), consolidating it with two others, challenging the Dane County health department’s order closing all Dane County schools for grades 3-12. The Court also ordered a temporary injunction against the…
Wisconsin Supreme Court says Dane County cannot stop private schools from holding in-person classes during pandemic
Dane County health officials cannot prohibit private schools from holding in-person classes until the state Supreme Court makes a formal decision on the matter. In a 4-3 ruling Thursday, the court issued an injunction temporarily blocking a Dane County emergency health order that sharply limited in-person instruction and agreed to…
When Do Ministers Win and Lose?
In July 2020, in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , the Supreme Court “ made it easier for religiously affiliated employers to discriminate” by concluding, 7-2, that two Catholic school teachers were ministers, not teachers. That ruling opened the door for thousands of Catholic school teachers to lose…
The Constitution Was Not Made Only For A Religious People
Last week, a ruling out of the Seventh Circuit presented the latest example that this country is facing an increasingly theocratic judiciary seeking to expressly favor religion and religious citizens at the great expense of nonbelievers. To be clear, the case is only at the preliminary injunction stage, so the…
Kamala Harris’s Threat to Religious Believers
Since presidential candidate Joe Biden selected Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, some Catholics have rightly raised concerns about Harris’s hostility toward Catholicism and her animus for Catholics whose moral lives are informed by Church teaching. Coupled with Biden’s own antagonism toward Catholic moral theology, Harris’s nomination clouds rather…
New Hampshire sued over Catholic schools tuition policy
His own father murdered, Catholic archbishop speaks against death penalty Pope Francis to sign a new encyclical on human fraternity on Oct. 3 Question of Faith: In what cases can someone be denied communion? By Christine Rousselle Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 4, 2020 / 08:40 am MT (CNA).- A New…
San Fernando Valley church, L.A. County square off in court over indoor ban
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley has continued to hold Sunday services despite county and state health orders. On Tuesday, Aug. 25, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied a temporary restraining order sought by county officials to prohibit indoor services at the church. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los…
San Fernando Valley church, L.A. County square off in court over indoor ban
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley has continued to hold Sunday services despite county and state health orders. On Tuesday, Aug. 25, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied a temporary restraining order sought by county officials to prohibit indoor services at the church. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los…
Double standards for gatherings in San Francisco a source of growing frustration
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone celebrates the feast of the Assumption on the steps of the city’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption Aug. 15, 2020. (CNS photo/Dennis Callahan, Archdiocese of San Francisco) Earlier this week, the Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, released a statement…
Think tank proposes requiring legislative approval to extend public health emergencies
Louisiana’s governor should be required to seek legislative approval before extending a state of emergency beyond 30 days, an attorney for a conservative think tank argues. Under current law, the governor can declare or renew an emergency declaration by executive order, though a majority of either chamber of the Legislature…
New Hampshire sued over Catholic schools tuition policy
New Hampshire State House, Concord, New Hampshire, USA. (Wangkung Gia/Shutterstock via CNA) A New Hampshire family has filed suit against the state after a town tuition program refused to pay for their grandson’s Catholic school education. The suit claims that the terms of the program violate religious discrimination laws and…
All eyes on U.S. Supreme Court as religious liberty case from Philadelphia foster care program set for November argument
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington July 2, 2020. Legal experts have noticed a pattern in how the court handled religious liberty cases in the last term. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters) WASHINGTON — As part of what seems to be a new trend for the Supreme Court, it…
Religious freedom is not a license to ignore civil rights
During the term it completed in July, the Supreme Court decided several important cases involving religious liberty and one that expanded legal protection for gay Americans. In the term that begins next month, the justices will hear a case that purportedly pits those two interests against each other. But the…
Think tank proposes requiring legislative approval to extend public health emergencies, restrictions
A musician plays his trumpet as pedestrians walk by on Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, July 9, 2020. An increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations at the time forced bars in the tourist-dependent city to shut down again just a month after they were allowed…
Judicial Winning: Kevin Newsom
Kevin Newsom’s impressive tenure as solicitor general of Alabama made him an obvious choice for President Trump to appoint to the Eleventh Circuit, where Judge Newsom now sits. Just a few months after his appointment, Judge Newsom made it onto President Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist. Judge Newsom cares deeply about…
Think tank proposes requiring legislative approval to extend public health emergencies, restrictions
Gov. John Bel Edwards (The Center Square) – Louisiana’s governor should be required to seek legislative approval before extending a state of emergency beyond 30 days, an attorney for a conservative think tank argues. Under current law, the governor can declare or renew an emergency declaration by executive order, though…
The role of religion in government
Not even Notre Dame can escape the Republican National Convention following famed football coach Lou Holtz’s speech last week. There has been some coverage from The Observer about students’ reactions, but I want to focus on a particular aspect of the speech. The most controversial part of Holtz’s time on…
Editorial: Religious freedom is not a license to ignore civil-rights laws
During the term it completed in July, the Supreme Court decided several important cases involving religious liberty and one that expanded legal protection for gay Americans. In the term that begins next month, the justices will hear a case that purportedly pits those two interests against each other. But the…
Ky. court upholds wedding photographer’s liberty
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Chelsey Nelson runs a wedding photography and blogging business here. She is involved in a suit against the local metro government. (Alliance Defending Freedom photo) LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) — A court decision in support of a Kentucky photographer who declines to shoot same-sex weddings is a victory…
Imagine a Power So Expotential the Government Is Willing to Forgo Its Most Precious Commodity Simply to Keep You Quiet?
PART 1 Who threatens the power structure so much and wields a strength so enormous that the enslavers who would enslave are willing to give up their most valuable asset just to shut them up? Read on. Throughout the ages, churches have been the pillars of community, places to go…
Opinion: All cake designers deserve the same First Amendment freedoms
An LGBT cake artist in Detroit was recently asked to create a custom cake with a religious message criticizing same-sex marriage. After she declined to express that message, the customer alleged she had illegally discriminated against him based on his religion. The situation presents an interesting reversal of roles to…
Rulings raise important considerations for religious employers
The just-concluded U.S. Supreme Court term was an eventful one for parochial schools and other religious employers. On June 15, the court held in Bostock v. Clayton County , 590 U.S. ____ (2020), that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because…
Govt must regulate freedom to practice religion: SC
Says such regulations must be based on ‘administrative considerations in larger public interest’ An AFP file image ISLAMABAD: The apex court has ruled that exercise of the freedom to profess and practice religion must be reasonably regulated “on administrative considerations in the larger public interest”. "It is essential as well…
In new term, Supreme Court once again takes up religious liberty
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington July 2, 2020. Legal experts have noticed a pattern in how the court handled religious liberty cases in the last term. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters) WASHINGTON — As part of what seems to be a new trend for the Supreme Court, it…