Religion and the Law
A Federal Judge in Utah Orders Local Officials To Return a Religious Group's Psychedelic Sacrament
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish emphasizes that religious freedom must protect "unpopular or unfamiliar religious groups" as well as "popular or familiar ones."
Sixth Circuit Rejects Qualified Immunity for Kim Davis for a Third Time
The message that public officials are required to follow the law, even if they disagree with it, does not seem to have gotten through.
SCOTUS to Consider Whether State Bans on "Conversion Therapy" Violate the First Amendment
A highly significant grant of certiorari for next term.
"The Court Shouldn't Bruen-ize the Free Exercise Clause"
Some thoughts from Michael McConnell, Douglas Laycock, Stephanie Barclay, and Mark Storslee.
Anti-American Speech and Spray-Painting "Allah, Muhammad" in Storage Locker Can Be Evidence of Motive …
in prosecution for bomb hoax at church; but spray-painting "the stupid Jew" in the storage locker isn't relevant enough, and thus isn't admissible. (Both the painted items were in defendant's native Kurdish.)
Can a School Require Students to Learn about Sexuality and "Cisnormativity" Over Parents' Religious Objection?
In granting Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider this question.
Challenge to California Policy Limiting Teachers' Disclosure to Parents of Student's Changed Gender Identity …
can proceed (under the First Amendment and under parental constitutional rights law), the court says, though there's no actual decision on whether the plaintiffs (parents and teachers) will prevail.
Supreme Court Adds Two Potentially Significant Cases to OT2024 Docket
December certiorari grants on standing and religion are early holiday gifts for Court watchers.
No Pseudonymity for Israeli Suing Intel Over Layoff Allegedly Prompted by Complaints Over Boss's Allegedly Pro-Hamas Statements
"Plaintiff's allegations are emotionally and politically charged, and ... Plaintiff is a member of certain groups subject to discrimination. That, however, is true of a plethora of cases in the federal courts and has generally not been understood to authorize anonymous pleading."
British Man Convicted of Criminal Charges for Praying Silently Near Abortion Clinic
British law allows local governments to enact absurdly censorious orders limiting "anti-social" behavior.
No Civil Court Claim Over Publicizing Religious Court's Statement That Litigant Refuses to Appear in the Religious Court
Plaintiff had argued that defendants' publicizing the religious court's statement "serves as a form of social pressure, calling on the community to shun or ostracize the individual until they comply with the court's demands."
Title IX's Exemption for Religious Institutions as to Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity Is Constitutionally Permissible
The court concludes that the government may institute such an exemption, though doesn't decide whether it must do so.
Can a Public School Ask Students to State their Religion?
Overzealous school administrators should think about students' privacy rights.
Lawsuit Over Allegedly Discriminatory Denial of Permit to Display Nativity Scene in Park Can Go Forward
Nativity scene was allegedly excluded (ostensibly on COVID grounds) while a menorah lighting was allowed.
UCLA Appeals Yesterday's Preliminary Injunction That Ordered It to Avoid Repetition of Exclusion of Jewish or Pro-Israel Students from Parts of Campus
[UPDATE 8/23/24: UCLA has just dropped the appeal.]
Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Against UCLA, Stemming from Risk of Repetition of Exclusion of Jewish or Pro-Israel Students from Parts of Campus
If participants in unauthorized encampments exclude Jewish or pro-Israel students from walking in parts of campus, UCLA would then have to close those parts to everyone.
State May Not Deny Grants to Charity Based on Its Religious Discrimination in Employment, When
the state had allowed other organizations to get grants despite their discriminating based on race and sex—so suggests the Ninth Circuit in a recent decision granting an injunction pending appeal.
A Religious Freedom Case for "YIGBY"
Notre Dame law Prof. Patrick Reidy argues that religious organizations are entitled to faith-based exemptions from zoning restrictions preventing them from building affordable housing on their land.
"Yes in God's Backyard" - A Useful, But Limited Form of Housing Deregulation
There is a growing movement to let churches and other religious organizations build housing on their property that would otherwise be banned by zoning regulations.
Religious Exemption Claim Brought by Employees Who Objected to COVID Vaccination and Testing Can Go Forward
So says a federal appellate court, applying federal employment law, which requires employers to exempt religious objectors even from generally applicable job rules, unless exemption would impose an "undue hardship" on the employer.
Zoning Regulations Empower Control Freaks—and Bigots
The Institute for Justice has launched a project to reform land use regulation.
