Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in a case where the district court rejected a church’s First Amendment challenge to Maine Governor Janet Mills’ COVID-19 order prohibiting religious gatherings of more than ten people.
- The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the Illinois Republican Party that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s COVD-19 Order limiting gatherings (including political gatherings) to 50 people is unconstitutional because there is an exemption from the limit for religious services.
- The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in an Establishment Clause case that has been in litigation for 20 years, held that a proposed modified consent decree that was to settle the case is unenforceable.
- The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a suit claiming that California’s Social Science Standards and Framework incorrectly describes Hinduism and treats it negatively in relation to the treatment of other religions.
- Suit was filed in a Texas federal district court by a Unitarian Church challenging a Texas law that makes it difficult to exclude individuals carrying firearms from one’s property.
- Suit was filed in a Michigan district court by a Muslim woman suing a Michigan county and two State Police officers for requiring her to remove her hijab when she was arraigned on an outstanding warrant after a traffic stop.
- The U.S. Department of Education announced its Final Rule conditioning government grants on protections of free speech rights and equal treatment of religious organizations.
- Sudan’s transitional government has agreed to separate religion and state after three decades of Islamic rule in the country.
- The Foreign Ministers of Canada and the Netherlands said that their governments plan to intervene in the genocide case that has been brought against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice.