Here are some important law-and-religion news stores from around the web:

• The Supreme Court agreed to hear a religious-liberty challenge to a Montgomery County, Maryland policy that ended opt-outs for parents who object to elementary-school instruction involving themes of sexuality and gender identity.
• This week, in an ongoing battle between Southern Methodist University and the United Methodist Church, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding SMU’s desire to separate from the church.
• In Secular Alliance v. U.S. Department of Education, the D.C. federal district court dismissed some of plaintiff’s claims regarding a rule prohibiting schools that receive Education Department funding from denying benefits to secular groups due to their religious beliefs.
• Several Jewish schools in New York have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, alleging that the department discriminated against them under Title VI by interfering with and disfavoring Jewish Studies curricula.
• In Calvary Chapel Belfast v. University of Maine System, a Maine federal district court refused to issue a temporary restraining order in the Church’s suit against the University. The church alleges that the university’s decision to rescind the sale of a satellite campus to the church constituted Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clause violations.  
• The American Humanist Association has filed suit against West Virginia for a grant of $5 million to a Catholic trade college, alleging that the grant violates the West Virginia constitution by awarding taxpayers’ money to a Catholic institution.