News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
I read with interest the July 17 letter to the editor " Government can’t force birth control ," about businesses denying birth control in their employees’ health insurance due to the employer’s religious beliefs. The letter contended that doing so “eliminates one more instance of unnecessary coercion in our society,”…
Almost forty years ago in the Columbia Law Review, First Amendment scholar Douglas Laycock argued that the First Amendment protected a right of church autonomy that was distinct from the standard conscientious objector claims of religious free exercise. In the years since, scholars such as Notre Dame’s Richard Garnett have…
Supreme Court of the United States (STOCK PHOTO) Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts angered conservatives when he ruled with the four liberal justices that the state of Nevada does have the power to limit Church attendees to just 50 in a 5 to 4 decision that was a serious blow…
FILE – This June 30, 2020, file photo shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. RENO, Nev. (AP) — A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court denied a rural Nevada church’s request late Friday to strike down as unconstitutional a 50-person cap on worship services as part of the state’s ongoing…
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A local couple will not be having the big wedding they hoped for after a federal judge shot down their request to hold the event at a Holland venue. The law firm representing the couple and the Holland event center asked a federal judge to…
The sisters’ refusal comes from a deeply held religious conviction which requires them to protect innocent human life. If they furnish medical insurance under ACA requirements, they will be providing drugs which extinguish or prevent the formation of life in the womb. By doing so they would be forced to…
A transgender man last week filed a lawsuit against a Catholic-run hospital in Maryland, citing in his complaint June’s landmark Supreme Court decision on transgender rights , fulfilling conservative fears that the ruling would usher in a legal war. The suit, filed on behalf of Jesse Hammons by the American…
Over at The Washington Post, Radley Balko has been continually updating a piece where he offers evidence that the “criminal justice system is racist.” Here are just a few of the examples Balko provides: A 2010 report by the Equal Justice Initiative documented cases in which courts upheld prosecutors’ dismissal…
Dangerous precedents are being set in a case before the Washington, D.C. Superior Court. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons July 20 (UPI) — Across the United States, a groundswell of alarm is rising among people of faith as judges increasingly disregard their First Amendment rights. Legal challenges to religious expression…
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a file photo. (Screenshot via NTD) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced in a letter addressed to religious private schools that they are exempt from the regular opening procedures regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. “As protected by the First Amendment and Texas law, religious private…
Protesters at the Supreme Court in March 2020, when the justices were hearing arguments in June Medical Services LLC v. Russo. Robin Bravender/States Newsroom I tell my students in Constitutional Law that there are historical eras in which a Supreme Court majority is determined to change an entire area of…
[co-author: Jami Moelis*] On July 8, 2020, the Supreme Court gave religious employers wide leeway to hire and fire employees whose duties include religious instruction without having to worry about employment discrimination suits. In a 7-to-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru that…
[co-author: Nathaniel Bernstein] Key Cases Courts Reach Mixed Conclusions on Challenges to COVID-19 Assembly Restrictions Nathan A. Adams IV Several recent cases concern challenges to executive orders relating to COVID-19 limiting the ability of churches to assemble and imposing other limitations. Beginning with appellate decisions, these cases are summarized in…
On July 8, 2020, in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed its stance on the application of ministerial exception to employment discrimination cases as established in earlier rulings. In doing so, the Court simultaneously raised an unanswered issue under Title VII: does…
While coronavirus infections expand across the country, lawsuits challenging public health restrictions on in-person worship services continue to wind through courts. As I mentioned in an earlier post , even though the U.S. Supreme Court in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom recently upheld an order limiting in-person religious…
The Supreme Court has decided, 7-2, that teachers in Catholic elementary schools are not covered by employment discrimination law. This is a highly important expansion of religious exemptions from government regulation. The Supreme Court had already given religious institutions an exemption for so-called “ministerial” employees. It has now gone substantially…
(Bloomberg Opinion) — The Supreme Court has decided, 7-2, that teachers in Catholic elementary schools are not covered by employment discrimination law. This is a highly important expansion of religious exemptions from government regulation. The Supreme Court had already given religious institutions an exemption for so-called “ministerial” employees. It has…
Tom Alexander holds a cross as he prays prior to rulings outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 8, 2020. The Supreme Court is siding with two Catholic schools in a ruling that underscores that certain employees of religious schools, hospitals and social service centers can’t…
On Wednesday, July 8, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated ruling deciding that teachers at religious schools could not claim protections under anti-discrimination laws. The central issue in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru concerned the scope of the “ministerial exception”—a legal doctrine grounded in the First Amendment…
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif., July 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) has teamed up with Tyler & Bursch, The National Center for Law and Policy (NCLP) and Advocates for Faith & Freedom to file a lawsuit challenging the state of California’s ban on singing and…
In such a moment, the court will rarely grant review in any case that would hinder that goal. I tell my students in Constitutional Law that there are historical eras in which a Supreme Court majority is determined to change an entire area of constitutional doctrine. Bruce Ledewitz (Capital-Star file)…
In a year beset by disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court, a trio of religious liberty cases decided this term provides constitutionalists with some hope. Let’s review: Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania The Little Sisters of the Poor is an order of female Catholics that has been serving…
Hide caption Erin Hawley (InsideSources.com) InsideSources.com With its trifecta of religious liberty decisions this term, the Supreme Court may finally be poised to give equal weight to religious liberty. It’s about time. In a year beset by disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court, a trio of religious liberty cases decided…
In a year beset by disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court, a trio of religious liberty cases decided this term provides constitutionalists with some hope. Let’s review: Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania The Little Sisters of the Poor need no introduction. This order of female Catholics has been…
Although they have generated controversy in some progressive precincts, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions last week in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania were quite straightforward. Both cases were decided 7-2 on the same day, with the five conservative members of…