Religion and the Law
No First Amendment Protection for 12 Cypress Trees,
when plaintiff's "connection to his trees [was] rooted in a vague and indeterminate concept of spirituality, quantum physics, and cosmic mechanics."
SCOTUS Will Decide Whether Federal Law Shields a Religious Postal Employee Who Refuses To Work on Sundays
The Supreme Court considers the scope of federally required religious accommodations at work.
S. Ct. Will Decide: When Must Employers Accommodate Religious Employees' Objections to Work Rules?
Will Justices Marshall and Brennan's views on how interpret the Congressional statute on this question be vindicated, 45 years later?
N.Y. Law Banning Gun Carrying in Churches (Including When Authorized by Church) Unconstitutionally …
discriminates against religious institutions
Marines Must Exempt Sikhs from Boot Camp Shaving Requirements
So holds the D.C. Circuit, relying on federal statutes protecting religious freedom.
Supreme Court Debates Whether Web Designers Can Be Forced To Make Gay Wedding Pages
A million hypotheticals bloom in arguments over when and where the government may compel speech.
Court Holds That Indiana RFRA Provides Religious Exemptions from Abortion Ban
Note that the decision is not inconsistent with the Supreme Court's holding in Dobbs, though it may of course still be overturned on appeal on other grounds.
Sixth Circuit Upholds Injunction Barring Air Force from Requiring COVID Vaccines for Religious Objectors
From the sounds of it, the Air Force's attorneys didn't think too carefully about how to respond to Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) claims.
Sick of the Pilgrims? Celebrate Roger Williams Instead
While we often spend Thanksgiving remembering a different set of Puritan settlers, the religious, freedom-loving Roger Williams is an apt hero for the more liberty-minded.
RFRA, Sharia, and Guns (Oh My)
A court rejects a claim of religious exemption from the ban on gun possession by felons and unlawful drug users.
Court Upholds Removal of Child From Parents, Related to Child's Transgender Identity
The facts are complicated, and involve a good deal more than just disagreement as to gender identity; but it seems to me like an important controversy.
No Implicit Requirement of Sharia Mediation or Arbitration
"Movants ... argue[] that Plaintiff's complaint fails to state a claim because the 'loan documents reflect the parties' agreement that Sharia law would govern their contractual relationship' and that '[p]ursuant to age old Islamic principles, parties are to pursue the alternative dispute resolution processes of mediation or arbitration before seeking adjudication of their quarrels.'"
Muslim Male Inmate Entitled to Religious Exemption from Strip Searches by Female-to-Male Transgender Guard
"[A] prisoner's right to be free from highly invasive intrusions on bodily privacy by prison employees of the opposite sex—whether on religious or privacy grounds—does not change based on a guard's transgender status."
Georgia Supreme Court on Sincerity and Religious Exemptions
An unusually detailed discussion of what factors court should consider in deciding whether a religious exemption request is sincere (generally a threshold requirement for the request to stand any chance of prevailing).
ACLU Abandons First Amendment in Colorado Gay Wedding Web-Hosting Case
How do you justify government speech mandates? Apparently, you deliberately pretend that businesses have no right to control the messages they choose to present.
Religious Speech on or with Government Property
Some brief thoughts on the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case from several weeks ago.
No Immediate Appeal of Denial of Church Autonomy Defense in Intra-Church Libel Case
A dispute about alleged forgery of letters related to the appointment of a Bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia leads to an important appellate procedure case in the Second Circuit.
