Growing up, I had heard about Al Capone, the high-profile, Chicago-based crime boss who violently capitalized on bootlegging during Prohibition. When I became a reporter in Hot Springs, I became aware of a certain tourist-town pride that "Big Al" once owned a suite in the still-renowned Arlington Hotel. He enjoyed,…
Counterpoint: Religious Liberty Scores a Win at the Supreme Court
Three religious freedom cases provide constitutionalists with some hope. 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…
Why Supreme Court liberals joined conservatives on religion, by Noah Feldman
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…
The Civics Project: Constitutional ’wall’ between church and state forever being tested | Opinion
The Civics Project Question: The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on state funding for religious schools confuses me. What does the Constitution actually say about religion? Answer: The U.S. Constitution does not say much directly. Article 6: Clause 3 states that “…No religious test shall ever be required as a…
The Civics Project: Constitutional ’wall’ between church and state forever being tested | Opinion
Question: The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on state funding for religious schools confuses me. What does the Constitution actually say about religion? Answer: The U.S. Constitution does not say much directly. Article 6: Clause 3 states that “…No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any…
Commentary: Why Supreme Court liberals joined conservatives on religion
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…
Has 35 Years Of Deterioration Of Establishment Clause Protection Finally Given The Theocrats Their Victory?
In a 5-4 decision in Espinoza v. Montana , the U.S. Supreme Court held that Montana could not exclude religious schools from a government subsidy program for private education. The Court’s reasoning in Espinoza is that denying government aid to religious schools because of their “religious character” violates the First…
Legal experts foresee end of anti-Catholic state laws following Supreme Court school-choice ruling
Could facilitate the growth of government-religion interaction Laws motivated by anti-Catholic bigotry across the country are in the cross hairs following a Supreme Court ruling against Montana last month, civil and religious liberties lawyers told The College Fix in interviews. In a 5-4 tally with three concurring opinions and three…
U.S. Supreme Court: Excluding Religious Schools from a Scholarship Program Is Unconstitutional
Highlights In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue , the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Montana could not exclude religious schools from a tax credit scholarship program on the grounds that the state "no aid" or Blaine amendment required it. The decision reiterates that disqualifying otherwise eligible recipients from…
U.S. Supreme Court Orders Seventh Circuit to Reconsider Decision in WILL Religious Liberty Case
The News : The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty’s (WILL) religious liberty lawsuit, St. Augustine v. Taylor , was remanded by the United States Supreme Court back to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration. This lawsuit poses critical questions on the relationship between religious liberty and government…
A troubling fidelity to precedent
On Monday, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that would have required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Not only did Chief Justice John Roberts side with the more liberal justices again, he also gave pro-lifers reasons to doubt Roe…
Supreme Court hands win to religious schools
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a Montana program that excluded religious schools from a student aid initiative violates religious freedoms protected under the U.S. Constitution. The 5-4 majority decision, which fell along ideological lines, said that by making state-backed private school scholarships off-limits to parochial schools, the program…
IDEAS: What is religious freedom?
Note from Community Impact Editor Amelia Robinson: this commentary is set to appear on the Dayton Daily News Ideas and Voices page Sunday, July 5. This week’s guest columnists were asked to reflect on the notions of freedom and/or patriotism. Other columns to be featured on the page are embedded.…
U.S. Supreme Court Declines Review of Education Case on Use of Salary History
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to take up a case about gender-based pay disparities in education, refusing to review a lower-court ruling that invalidated a California county education agency’s policy of considering new employees’ pay history in setting their salaries. The court issued a brief order without comment…
Victory: U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Discriminatory Law Preventing Students From Using Scholarships to Attend Religious Private Schools
Rejecting long-standing state laws that discriminate against religion, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Montana must allow scholarships it provides to be used by families for tuition at religious schools. The Court’s 5-4 decision in Espinoza v. Mont. Dept. of Revenue found that a state constitutional provision restricting aid…
Court lays to rest age-old debate with Espinoza decision
After more than a century, the U.S. Supreme Court finally has determined that Blaine amendments, which were created in the late 19 th century under a wave of anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic bias, violate the U.S. Constitution’s Free Exercise clause. “A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State…
Opinion analysis: Court rules that religious schools cannot be excluded from state funding for private schools
In 2015, the Montana legislature created a scholarship program that provided a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donations to private scholarship organizations. Those organizations used the money to fund scholarships for children to attend private schools – which, in Montana, are primarily religious schools. In 2018, the Montana Supreme Court struck…
Supreme Court: Religious Liberty Is Winning—and the Pro-Life Cause Is Losing
The Story: In two rulings released this week, the Supreme Court signaled a pattern of preventing restrictions on both religious liberty and also abortion. The Background: The court issued rulings this week on important cases involving restrictions on abortion and on religious liberty. The abortion case was June Medical Services…
Supreme Court Rules Montana Religious Schools Can Receive Funding
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: A major victory for advocates of government funding for religious education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a law in Montana. That state law let students apply for state scholarships, which they could not use at religious schools. The court struck down that exclusion. Joining us now…
Symposium: RIP state “Blaine Amendments” – Espinoza and the “no-aid” principle
Steven Green is the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and director of the Center for Religion, Law & Democracy at Willamette University College of Law. He filed an amicus brief on behalf of a number of religious groups in support of the respondents in Espinoza v. Montana Department of…
SCOTUS Holds Free Exercise Clause Bars Application of State’s No-Aid to Religious Institutions Clause in State Constitution
In its opinion in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue regarding a state tax credit scheme for student scholarships, the majority held that the scheme must be afforded to religious schools so that the Free Exercise Clause was not violated. Recall that the Montana Supreme Court held that the tax…
Trump Administration Celebrates Supreme Court Ruling on Religious Schools
Source: (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) The Trump administration is celebrating Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that deemed the exclusion of religious schools from taxpayer funded scholarships as unconstitutional. As Reagan reported earlier : The Supreme Court sided with a group of families in Montana that challenged a state law which banned scholarship…
Terry Mattingly: ‘Utah compromise’ on gay rights and religious liberty
No doubt about it: Someone will have to negotiate a ceasefire someday between the sexual revolution and traditional religious believers, said Justice Anthony Kennedy, just before he left the U.S. Supreme Court. America now recognizes that “gay persons and gay couples cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior…
What Does the LGBT-Discrimination Decision Mean For Religious Employers?
The Supreme Court recently ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. What are the ruling’s real-world implications for those who maintain traditional, biblical views about human sexuality? How will…
Feds slap Stafford County with lawsuit over Muslim cemetery
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Stafford County, claiming it blocked the creation of what would have been a Muslim-owned cemetery in the county. The DOJ says the county violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act — RLUIPA — a federal law that protects religious institutions from…