News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
As the Supreme Court winds down for the holiday break, one thing that has not slowed is the flow of litigation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. In November and December, the court handled seven emergency requests for relief related to COVID-19, six involving challenges by religious institutions to state crowd-restriction…
Consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of a religious ceremony does not automatically “disturb the public peace” even though eating them is illegal, and therefore the act might be protected by the New Hampshire constitution, the state Supreme Court has ruled. Tuesday’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling does not mean that consuming…
It is undeniable that religious groups, even recently, have faced serious and vile prejudice from government-run organizations, particularly on college campuses. It is also important to note that our nation’s courts at the time rightfully stepped in to prohibit and correct this vile prejudice wherever claims were brought. Perhaps due…
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Thousands from around the world will convene in an online rally organized by Right To Believe to call out gross judicial overreach by the DC Courts and denounce the way the DC Court has handled Case 2011 CA 003721 B. Thousands from around the…
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Thousands from around the world will convene in an online rally organized by Right To Believe to call out gross judicial overreach by the DC Courts and denounce the way the DC Court has handled Case 2011 CA 003721 B. "We are rallying today…
Brevard County Commissioner Curt Smith wants to bring invocations back at commission meetings — or at least just before them. Commission meetings haven’t had an invocation since November 2017, as a result of the county being sued in federal court in 2015 by three atheist, agnostic and humanist organizations and…
Are Christmas Carols, Cards, and Greetings at School Constitutional? – By Harold Pease Ph.D. – In the present year of COVID-19 tyrannical governors shut down religious services, a 1st Amendment right, as fast as they could. During the summer months Antifa defaced and with ropes tore down statues of our…
Vermont tax dollars may soon be going to faith-based elementary and secondary schools, if a case filed last week in Federal district court succeeds. The case is styled Valente v. French. The lead plaintiffs are Mt. Holly parents who send their son to the Roman Catholic Mt. St. Joseph Academy…
Religious entities given clarity in federal procurement. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued its Final Rule on "Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption." The agency’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on this topic generated heated controversy and more than 109,726 comments. Notwithstanding the strong interest…
In July, the Court ruled against Calvary Chapel, a church in Nevada. The unsigned opinion, which split 5-4, did not offer any analysis. Presumably, Chief Justice Roberts was willing to quietly stand by his South Bay concurrence. And the other four couldn’t be bothered to reply to the excellent dissent…
Religious entities given clarity in federal procurement. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued its Final Rule on “Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption.” The agency’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on this topic generated heated controversy and more than 109,726 comments. Notwithstanding the strong interest…
On November 17, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") published a proposed update to its 2008 guidance on religious discrimination in the workplace. The five member commission voted 3-2 to issue the proposed guidance with the two democratic members objecting. The proposed guidance can be accessed here . Although…
In the Nov. 4, 2020 photo, The Supreme Court in Washington. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Muslim men who were placed on the government’s no-fly list because they refused to serve as FBI informants can seek to hold federal agents financially liable. The justices continued a string of…
Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Assn. , No. 18-540: Arkansas’ Act 900 regulates the price at which pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”) reimburse pharmacies for the cost of drugs covered by prescription-drug plans. Respondent Pharmaceutical Care Management Association is a trade association representing PBMs that brought suit claiming that Act 900…
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel plans to appeal judge’s ruling that, based on religious freedom grounds, a refusal to serve customers based on their sexual orientation was permissible. (CNN)Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she will appeal a Michigan Claims Court judge’s ruling that allows discrimination against a same-sex couple…
Peter Youngren, founding pastor of Toronto International Celebration Church, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in a photo uploaded to Facebook on Nov. 2, 2020. A Canadian church has filed suit against a provincial government over a rule that prohibits gatherings of more than 10 people, arguing that it interferes with…
The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in this file photo from Aug. 4, 2020. photo by: Journal-World File Photo In an ongoing legal dispute over a Douglas County health order that limits bars’ operating hours amid the coronavirus pandemic, an attorney now says a U.S. Supreme…
This post arrives thanks to Erica M. Van Heyde, a 2020 graduate of The Ohio State University Mortiz College of Law, who joins Squire Patton Boggs as an associate in 2021. Like most states, Kentucky is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. Governor Andy Beshear has responded by implementing a…
Mark Kwiecienski complains about menorahs in public parks in Basalt ( “Menorahs don’t belong on public land,” Dec. 4, The Aspen Times). He says such religious displays violate the prohibition on “separation of church and state” and the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. Kwiecienski is wrong on the facts…
Just days after the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against New York State’s COVID-19 restrictions on religious services, a Christian school in Kentucky is asking SCOTUS if it can reopen, too. Danville Christian Academy, joined by Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron , sued the state’s Democratic Governor…
On November 25, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a preliminary injunction in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo , No. 20A87, holding that New York may not enforce 10- or 25-person congregation-size limits on certain Catholic churches and Orthodox synagogues, pending further Supreme Court litigation, because the restrictions…
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito flatly rejected a plea by a Louisiana megachurch pastor to keep his church fully open against orders from the government to limit the size of worship gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That pastor, Tony Spell , whose full legal name is Mark Anthony Spell,…
Landon Coleman is pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Odessa. Reach him at landon@immanuelodessa.com or read his blog at Regular Pastor.com “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right…
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Family Research Council (FRC) today praised the recent decision by a federal appeals court striking down two local ordinances banning sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) for minors. In the case of Otto v. City of Boca Raton , a three-judge panel of the U.S.…
Clarence Thomas (Getty) Two Supreme Court justices have suggested that the court needs to “fix” Obergefell v Hodges, the case that made same-sex marriage the law of the land. In October, the court decided not to hear a case involving Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who has been sued for…