News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
The woke crusade against Christian baker Jack Phillips continues. The religious owner of the Colorado-based Masterpiece Cakeshop rose to national prominence after he, in 2012, declined to make a custom wedding cake for a same-sex wedding. Phillips cited his First Amendment right to not promote ideas contrary to his cherished…
The 2015 Supreme Court decision extending the right to marry to same-sex adult couples contained a ticking time bomb. Six years later, the noise is getting loud. The explosive material has to do with religious freedom. While polls clearly show that a growing majority of Americans support marriage equality, a…
Jackson Lewis Law Firm Logo The U.S. Supreme Court has found that Philadelphia’s ordinance requiring a private foster care agency to certify same-sex couples as foster parents burdened the agency’s religious exercise in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Fulton et al. v. City of Philadelphia,…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Catholic Social Services in a battle that pitted religious freedom against anti-discrimination laws in Philadelphia and across the country. The court declared that the private Catholic agency was entitled to renewal of its contract with the city for screening foster parents, even…
With six conservative justices, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Catholic group in its dispute with the city of Philadelphia over LGBTQ couples and foster care. Image: Erin Schaff/AP The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Catholic Social Services in a battle that pitted religious freedom against anti-discrimination…
Welcome to the Wednesday, June 16, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: SCOTUS update: 46 opinions issued this term, 18 cases remain Local Roundup Federal Register update SCOTUS update: 46 opinions issued this term, 18 cases remain The U.S. Supreme Court is winding down…
Anticipating the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s pending assessment of its Columbus ship logo, I respond to recent commentary that asserted the logo is “fully fitting” for the district. The commentary is informative for evaluating the logo’s appropriateness, but not in the way its author intended. Consider two…
Vermont tuition program Vermont’s Town Tuition Program (“TTP”) requires school districts that lack a public high school to provide for its residents’ high school education by paying private school tuition. Because Vermont’s constitution guarantees that “no person shall be compelled to support a place of worship,” the Vermont Supreme Court,…
David Adler Likely the most mysterious provision of the Bill of Rights, the question of the meaning of the Ninth Amendment has generated numerous interpretations and theories. Though not invoked by the Supreme Court until 1965, it has come to play an important role in advancing the rights and liberties…
The Supreme Court will decide a case involving Philadelphia’s refusal to contract with Catholic Social Services over the group’s refusal to place foster children with same-sex couples. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its opinion within the month on a closely watched case that grapples with religious rights…
The Scott M. Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City is shown in this undated photo. The building houses the Utah Supreme Court and the Utah Court of Appeals. ROY — The Utah Supreme Court has revived a religious freedom dispute, instructing an Ogden court to take another look at a…
Churches in California are celebrating their victory for religious freedom after a religious freedom legal group secured settlements requiring the state to pay $2.1 million in attorneys’ fees to a Pentecostal church and a Catholic priest and to never again impose discriminatory restrictions on houses of worship. In an injunction…
People For the American Way “ Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears ” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. Cases in the series can be found by issue and by judge at this link Second Circuit Trump judge Steven Menashi wrote…
Members of the Mount St. Joseph Academy Esports team Destiny Jurado, Jeremy Gillespie and Keith Dishaw Sinclair are pictured at the school in Rutland., Vt., Feb. 25, 2020. (CNS photo/Cori Fugere Urban, Vermont Catholic) A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the state of Vermont cannot refuse to fund…
Ezra Zaid speaks to reporters at the Petaling Shariah Subordinate Court in Shah Alam December 17, 2020. — Picture by Miera Zulyana KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― The High Court today asked both Mohd Ezra Mohd Zaid and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to attempt to settle on the…
Stephen Kiers/Shutterstock A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the state of Vermont cannot refuse to fund tuition for religious institutions that would otherwise qualify for the funding. The June 2 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit changes a state no-aid policy that dates…
Justice Neil Gorsuch declined to grant emergency relief to a pair of Colorado churches. (Art Lien) In the latest battle over restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice Neil Gorsuch rejected a request from two Denver-area churches to block the enforcement of Colorado’s disaster law. Denver Bible Church and Community…
Wood Gavel A Texas judge who is Christian was banned by another judge from opening his courtroom proceedings with a prayer, thereby granting victory to the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a secular non-profit legal organization based in Wisconsin, a report said. The judge ruled in favor of the FRFF, an…
A federal judge has ruled against Montgomery County Judge Wayne Mack’s practice of opening his court with a prayer said by a member of a volunteer chaplain program. Southern District of Texas Judge Kenneth Hoyt on Friday deemed the prayers violated the Establishment Clause, which is the Constitutional provision prohibiting…
Association of Christian Schools International logo. The Association of Christian Schools International, a Colorado Springs-based organization founded in 1978 that aims to advance “excellence in Christian schools by enhancing the professional and personal development of Christian educators and providing vital support functions for Christian schools.” ACSI has over 2,200 member…
By Leisa Boley Hellwarth Missouri was the first state to pass a truth in labeling law. And Missouri was the first state to have the constitutionality of the law challenged. On Aug. 28, 2018, Missouri Rev. Code Sec. 265.494(7) became law. This Statute prohibits the misrepresentation of a product as…
Some time ago, the IRS issued an Audit Techniques Guide on the taxation of lawsuits, awards, and settlements. As many tax practitioners can attest, there are a multitude of tax issues involving any one of these issues. In any event, and although the Audit Technique Guide (“Audit Guide”) is somewhat…
The Supreme Court of Canada Building on May 12, 2021 (Jolson Lim/iPolitics) In a 9-0 decision on Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that there is no underlying legal contract when someone joins a voluntary organization, even if that organization has a constitution and by-law, and, even if that…
COMMENTARY: A decision in the Sandra Pavez case in Chile will have broad implications for the protection of religious liberty globally. Cathedral of San Bernardo, Chile. (photo: Wikimedia Commons) Reconciling respect for Catholic teaching on sexuality with the demands of the LGBT movement is aided by a robust protection of…
Whether or not a religious belief is sincerely held by an applicant or employee is rarely at issue in most religious discrimination lawsuits. With both the EEOC and DFEH guidance requiring employers to accommodate an employee who has a sincerely held religious belief that prevents an employee from receiving any…