News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
The Framers of the Constitution gave the federal government no authority to restrict peaceful immigration. For the first century or so of US history, most foreigners wishing to move to the United States were legally free to do so. The Constitution delegates many specific powers to the federal government, but…
Comments by justices of the United State Supreme Court Dec. 8 indicate likely support for parents of Maine high school students who want to use government funding to send their children to sectarian schools. During oral arguments before the court in the case Carson v. Makin , justices in the…
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to rule that religious schools can’t be excluded from a Maine program that offers tuition aid for private education. The court’s six conservative justices seemed largely unpersuaded, after nearly two hours in the courtroom, by Maine’s arguments that the state is willing…
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in a case that could see a major change in the nature of funding for schools that provide religious education across the country. In Carson v. Makin , the nine justices are being asked to decide whether the state of…
Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne called the new laws “a serious overreach by the Victorian Government into the rightful freedoms of faith-based organizations.” Melbourne Parliament House in Victoria, Australia. (photo: Jason Benz Benne / Shutterstock) MELBOURNE — Catholic leaders in Australia expressed concern this week about a new set of…
Parliament House for the state of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. | Stock photo via Shutterstock Catholic leaders in Australia expressed concern this week about a new set of laws passed in the state of Victoria which prevent religious groups and schools from making hiring decisions based on protected attributes such…
Photo by Joel Muniz via Unsplash Landmark Religious Freedom Case in Maine Reaches Supreme Court By Movieguide® Staff The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear arguments against a Maine law that bars parents from using state student-aid programs if their children attend faith-based schools. Carson v. Makin will take…
With all eyes fixated on the United States Supreme Court this week hearing oral arguments in the Mississippi abortion case, scant attention has been paid to another potentially landmark case before the court next week on taxpayer funding for religious education. The case is Carson v. Makin , and it…
A conservative Christian group challenging the City of Boston before the United States Supreme Court has landed support from two unlikely allies — the American Civil Liberties Union and the Biden administration. At issue is a request by a Christian civic group, Camp Constitution, for the City of Boston to…
My Faith Votes recently sat down with Brad Dacus to discuss his views on the troubles we currently face in America. Brad is the Founder and President of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a legal defense organization providing representation in matters involving the exercise of religion and other civil liberties.…
Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative filed an amicus brief this week in Shurtleff v. Boston , a case that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that government officials may not exclude religious expression from the public square. In Boston, a city program allows private groups and citizens…
Visitors sit on pews in the Great Upper Church at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the campus of Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Religious employers assert ‘church autonomy’ in lawsuits OSHA mandate said to force institutions to violate beliefs Christian schools, churches, and seminaries…
A Supreme Court friend-of-the-court brief filed recently by freshly sworn-in Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar may prove that President Joe Biden ‘s administration is determined to reverse every last policy decision of the predecessor Trump administration, even on issues of religious liberty. The Court will hear on December 8 a case…
Fencing outside the Michigan Department of Corrections’ Muskegon Correctional Facility and the Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility (or E.C. Brooks) in Muskegon on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Cory Morse | MLive.com Almost two years later, a federal investigation into the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) reached…
Media eyes are trained on the U.S. Supreme Court’s December 1 argument on Mississippi’s abortion restrictions, preceded by a fast-tracked November 1 hearing about the stricter law in Texas. But don’t neglect the Court’s December 8 hearing and subsequent decision on tax funding of religious schools in the potentially weighty…
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case this term that pits the two religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment against each other — on a flagpole. At issue is a request by a Christian civic group, Camp Constitution, for the City of Boston to allow a…
Attorney David Betras As I have noted in this space a number of times, private companies and government entities have the power to impose vaccine mandates. The seminal case on the issue, Jacobson v Massachusetts, was decided by the Supreme Court in 1905. In the 116 years since, courts have…
Attorney David Betras Like kids counting the days until Christmas, attorneys, legal scholars and jurisprudence junkies, including me, eagerly anticipate the first Monday in October, the day the Supreme Court of the United States begins its new term each year. We can barely control ourselves as we wait for the…
A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 25, 2021. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC The U.S. Supreme Court’s new nine-month term, which begins on…
A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo Oct 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s new nine-month term, which begins on Monday, promises to be among the most momentous in generations. The justices are poised to decide major…
The media are prepping for the U.S. Supreme Court’s December 1 hearing on the strict Mississippi abortion law and the subsequent ruling. In a prior Guy Memo on religious "friend of the court" briefs filed on the pro-life side, I promised a second rundown when pro-abortion-rights activists weighed in with…
With only a few days remaining before the justices return to the courtroom for the start of the 2021-22 term, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued orders from the justices’ “long conference” on Monday, Sept. 27. The justices normally consider over a thousand cases at the long conference, which is…
U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Catholic Social Services, a foster care agency that refuses to compromise its religious beliefs by placing children with same-sex couples. The High Court’s decision in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia has a significant impact on every area of the free exercise of…
The fight for school choice has always faced push‐back when it comes to funding religious education. Even though Pell Grants and federal student loans can be used to attend religious universities, people become wary when school‐choice dollars—whether in the form of vouchers, tax credits, or whatever—are given to religious K-12…
Churches want to turn American democracy upside down by advocating for representation without taxation. To meet the requirements of tax-exempt nonprofits, churches and secular 501(c)(3) charitable organizations “may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate at all in campaign activity…