News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
KEY CASES Establishment Clause Maine Scholarship Program Excluding Sectarian Schools Unconstitutional In Carson v. Makin , 142 S.Ct. 1987 (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court struck a tuition assistance program that requires school districts to transmit payment to the secondary school — public or private, in-state or out-of-state — that parents…
Freedom Forum The Supreme Court, in striking down a unique tuition assistance program in Maine, could foreshadow the future of religious freedom under the First Amendment. THE CASE The very rural state of Maine is not able to provide a local public secondary school in every school district. To fill…
St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame) The world’s leading defenders of religious freedom will gather in Rome July 20-22 for the second annual Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit, hosted by the Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative . The summit’s theme is Dignitatis humanae — the…
If you ask some Americans, the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling did more than overturn Roe v. Wade. They believe it also shrunk the distance between church and state. These more liberal religious freedom advocates fear the court has cleared the way for lawmakers to privilege conservative religious teachings on when…
BARTH KECK Intelligent Design . Surely you remember that concept making news years ago, the one claiming “certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.” Well, Intelligent Design is about to make a comeback.…
Erik J. Chaput teaches in the School of Continuing Education at Providence College. He is the author of "Rhode Island and the Establishment Clause," a digital curriculum guide for teachers hosted on RIHS.org. The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to remove a federal…
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, foreground, speaks to supporters at Wearhouse 25 during a party to kick off her re-election bid for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District seat, Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Grand Junction, Colo. You can say I came out of the womb a Baptist preacher. In fact, I’m Baptist…
In its last two weeks of a blockbuster term, the U.S. Supreme Court released two major First Amendment decisions dealing with religious liberty: Carson v. Makin , about whether Maine could refuse to fund religious schools, and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District , about whether a football coach could pray…
In its last two weeks of a blockbuster term, the U.S. Supreme Court released two major First Amendment decisions dealing with religious liberty: Carson v. Makin, about whether Maine could refuse to fund religious schools, and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, about whether a football coach could pray on the…
Bremerton assistant football coach Joe Kennedy, obscured at center in blue, is surrounded by Centralia High School football players as they kneel and pray with him on the field after their game on Oct. 16, 2015, in Bremerton, Washington. After losing his coaching job for refusing to stop kneeling in…
The Supreme Court recently ruled , 6-3, along party lines in favor of a public school football coach who lost his job after kneeling and praying on the field. The Bremerton School District, when it learned of the prayers, told former assistant coach Joseph Kennedy to stop as it could…
Employers Respond to Supreme Court’s Decision Striking Down Roe v. Wade In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade , several large national employers, including Disney and Facebook, stated that they will cover expenses incurred by an employee who must travel out of state for…
On June 14, the New York State Supreme Court, New York County (a trial level court in New York State), ruled that Yeshiva University (YU) and its president must “immediately grant plaintiff YU Pride Alliance the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges afforded to all other student groups…
Erin Hawley | New York aims an attack at Yeshiva University Yeshiva University students study in the school’s library in New York City. You have 4 free articles remaining. Full access isn’t far. We can’t release more of our sound journalism and commentary without a subscription, but we can make…
Toobin breaks down what Supreme Court opinion says about the right to religious freedom 01:46 Barbara A. Perry is Gerald L. Baliles Professor and Director of Presidential Studies at UVA’s Miller Center. She was a 1994-95 Supreme Court fellow and is the co-author of " Freedom and the Court: Civil…
In my 33 years of advocating for religious liberty, I have never seen a year like this at the U.S. Supreme Court . This term, the Supreme Court decided three important religious liberty cases. Each case firmly defended the right of people of faith to be free from anti-religious discrimination…
Many states have amended their state fair employment practices laws by redefining various key terms that have previously been consistent across the United States. For example, states like Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia have redefined “employment,” “citizenship status,” “harassment,” “sexual harassment,” and “religion,” among others, to protect a wider…
Its conservative majority is expanding the right to religious exercise at the expense of church-state separation AMERICA’S SUPREME COURT has long steered a careful path between the twin religion clauses of the First Amendment: the “free-exercise” clause, which requires a degree of friendliness towards religion and its adherents; and the…
The Supreme Court unties a knotty issue by ruling that, in firing him, a school district violated coach Joe Kennedy’s constitutional rights. Pictured: Kennedy speaks with reporters April 25 outside the Supreme Court Building after his case was argued. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images) Thomas Jipping is a senior legal fellow…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday overruled decades of precedent maintaining the separation of church and state in a case about a former high school football coach who was fired for engaging in visible, public prayers at the 50-yard line after every game. United States Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch…
Protesters and a counter protester get into a debate about abortion rights on Friday, June 24, 2022, at North Straub Park in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans’ lives after nearly a half-century…
The New Reform Temple sits on the corner of Main Street and West Gregory Boulevard in Kansas City. Rabbi Alan Londy said the Supreme Court’s decision was an affront to religious freedom. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nearly 50-year-old precedent of Roe v. Wade, the response among religious…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Washington. Manuel Balce Ceneta – staff, AP WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Maine can’t exclude religious schools from a program that offers tuition aid for private education, a decision that could ease religious organizations’ access to…
The US Supreme Court is seen behind a fence after overturning Roe v. Wade, in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2022. Yesterday’s shameful Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade was telegraphed months ago. But, during the angst-laden wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe , the court, so…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Washington. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Maine can’t exclude religious schools from a program that offers tuition aid for private education, a decision that could ease religious organizations’ access to taxpayer money. The 6-3 outcome could…