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

  • In Illinois District Court, a Child Evangelism Fellowship sued a school district alleging violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments for several acts, like their exclusion from literature distribution forums.
  • This past December, an appeal was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Arroyo Castro v. Gasper, where a district court in Connecticut previously denied a teacher’s preliminary injunction after she was disciplined for displaying a crucifix in her classroom.  
  • In Inclusive Louisiana v. St. James Parish, a district court refused to dismiss claims against the Defendant, which alleged that Plaintiff’s land use rights were violated by industrial pollution, going against the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. 
  • In Davenport v. Episcopal Health Services, Inc., a district court in New York held that the ministerial exception barred Title IX and Fair Labor Standard Acts claims by a student Chaplain. 
  • On Tuesday February 10th, the House Subcommittee on Early Education held a hearing to discuss Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case regarding parental opt-outs in the Maryland public school system. 

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

  • After New York City dropped the case against a woman who assaulted a pro-life influencer, the legal nonprofit Thomas More Society has asked the DA to reconsider. 
  • The Vatican has appointed a five-member panel of independent judges to oversee the canonical trial of Father Marko Rupnik, who faces allegations of sexual and psychological abuse involving consecrated women under his spiritual care.
  • Oklahoma’s new state superintendent has dropped the prior mandate requiring Bibles to be placed in public school classrooms and will not distribute them or enforce a biblical character curriculum. 
  • A federal judge has temporarily blocked key provisions of Texas’ new campus speech law, siding with Christian and other student groups who argued the law infringed their First Amendment rights.
  • A New Jersey jury has awarded $5 million in damages to a former student who alleged he was sexually abused decades ago by a monk at the elite Delbarton School.
  • After strong community pressure and protests, St. Demetrios Church in Astoria and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America reached a deal changing how the Archdiocese is involved in the parish, including removing a controversial clause and banning the sale of church or school property. This agreement protects the school, keeps the parish independent, and sets up a plan for managing money responsibly in the future.
  • Dallin H. Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice, has been selected to lead The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following the death of his 101-year-old predecessor, Russell M. Nelson.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 509, a proposed law that would have required police to receive training on “transnational repression” (how foreign governments target people living in the U.S.) because he felt existing programs were sufficient and worried about federal coordination. The veto caused tension in the Indian-American community, with many Sikh Americans supporting the bill for protection against harassment, while many Hindu Americans opposed it, fearing it could unfairly target them.
  • The Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will publish its biennial “Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025” on October 21 in Rome, highlighting global trends in religious persecution and restrictions. 
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Around the Web

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

  • The 10th Circuit held that that the nondiscrimination requirements of Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program do not violate the free exercise or expressive association rights of Catholic schools by excluding them from the program due to their policy of considering the sexual orientation and gender identity of applicants and their parents in making admissions decisions. The Court cited the program’s general applicability in reaching their decision that it does not discriminate against religious schools specifically.
  • A federal district court in Idaho ruled that a charter school violated Truth Family Bible Church’s First Amendment rights when it canceled a lease that allowed the church to hold Sunday services inside its gymnasium.
  • Students and former students at Brooklyn yeshivas, as well as parents, filed a class action lawsuit claiming that New York allows yeshivas to meet state education requirements “without reliably teaching core subjects such as English, math and civics.”
  • An Illinois state appellate court held that the state’s Insurance Abortion Coverage Mandate did not violate a Baptist group’s rights under the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Court reasoned that since the group is neither required to provide insurance that is regulated by the Illinois Department of Insurance, or any insurance at all for that matter, nor subject to any tax or penalty for failing to provide this type of insurance, the regulation did not violate the group’s rights.
  • King Charles announced that he has approved the nomination of Bishop Sarah Mullally for election by the College of Canons of Canterbury Cathedral as Archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop Mullally would be the first woman to hold the position.
  • The FDA recently approved a generic version of the abortion pill, mifepristone. Conservatives objected to the move, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who called approval of the pill “a betrayal.”

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Legal Spirits 071: Jefferson, Wine, and the Wall of Separation

Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists—better known for its reference to a “wall of separation” between church and state—was little remembered until Chief Justice Morrison Waite revived it in Reynolds v. United States (1879). With the help of historian George Bancroft, Waite transformed Jefferson’s passing metaphor into a constitutional principle, despite Jefferson’s limited role in drafting the First Amendment. In this episode of Legal Spirits, historians Don and Lisa Drakeman join Center Director Mark Movsesian to explore how Jefferson’s words, and even his passion for French wine, helped shape the Court’s Religion Clause jurisprudence—and to consider what lessons today’s Justices should draw about the risks of using history in constitutional interpretation. Listen in!

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Around the Web

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

  • In Leach v. Gateway Church, a federal district court in Texas refused to dismiss a case alleging misappropriation of tithed funds.  
  • In Detwiler v. Mid-Columbia Medical Center, the 9th Circuit upheld a district court’s dismissal of a Title VII suit wherein the plaintiff rejected a religious accommodation to the Covid vaccine because of a mandatory antigen testing requirement.   
  • Yet another lawsuit was filed in Texas seeking an injunction in school districts that are being made to comply with a Texas statute, which requires public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
  • In American Marriage Ministries v. Collins, an organization that ordains ministers online sued Tennessee officials over a law that says those who receive online ordination may not solemnize marriages. 
  • In Truth Family Bible Church Middleton v. Idaho Housing and Finance Association, a district court held that the plaintiff’s First Amendment rights were violated by the termination of their lease of a school gym because it was to be used for Sunday Services. 

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Around the Web

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

  • The 9th Circuit rejected claims that a fire department in Washington State violated Title VII and state law when they refused to accommodate employees’ request for religious exemptions from the state’s Covid vaccine mandate for all healthcare providers.
  • The 6th Circuit affirmed the dismissal of claims that an Ohio school’s policy on the use of communal bathrooms by transgender students violated the free exercise rights of Muslim and Christian students and parents.
  • Two families field suit in a Massachusetts federal district court challenging a policy of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families that would require foster parents to agree to “support, respect, and affirm the foster child’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.” The families assert that the policy unconstitutionally forces them to “speak against their core religious beliefs,” regulates speech based on content and viewpoint, and is discriminatory towards religious persons.
  • A California federal district court granted summary judgment to a Jehovah’s Witness who wished to attach an Addendum to the oath she was required to take as an employee of the State Controller’s Office, as she believed the oath, as currently written, violated her religious beliefs.
  • A New Mexico federal district court held that two members of a healthcare sharing ministry have standing to challenge an order barring them from operating in the state on free exercise grounds.
  • Senate Bill 11, passed by the Texas legislature in May 2025, establishes a structure that school districts may adopt to provide a daily prayer service and reading of the Bible/other religious text in school with parental consent. The bill took effect on September 1st, and Texas AG Ken Paxton promptly issued a press release in which he “encourages children to begin with the Lord’s Prayer[.]”
  • Following the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, appeared on “EWTN News In Depth,” where he called out state lawmakers for ignoring the pleas of Minnesota Catholic leaders for security funding for local nonpublic schools.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

New Video on Cantwell v. Connecticut

Happy to announce that the latest episode in our animated video series, “Landmark Cases in Religious Freedom,” is now available on our YouTube channel. This episode covers Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940), in which a Jehovah’s Witness was convicted of inciting a breach of the peace after playing an anti-Catholic phonograph record in a Catholic neighborhood. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Cantwell’s conviction was unconstitutional, establishing for the first time that the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause applies to state laws through the Fourteenth Amendment. The case demonstrates how the Constitution protects offensive religious speech absent physical threats or an imminent danger to public order. This precedent remains crucial in today’s debates about religious “hate speech” and the balance between free expression and public safety. Take a look!

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Around the Web

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

  •  In People v. Johnson, a California appellate court ruled that prohibiting a criminal defendant, an ordained minister, from wearing a clerical collar and having a Bible during trial was not a reversible error. The court found that this restriction did not affect the trial’s fairness or the verdict. 
  • In Gartenberg v. The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a New York federal court ruled that while Title VI must be applied consistently with the First Amendment, it still requires schools to address harassment that goes beyond protected speech. The court found that Cooper Union’s response to antisemitic intimidation, where protestors banged on a locked library door while Jewish students sheltered inside, was inadequate under Title VI, as the conduct was physically threatening and not shielded by free speech protections.
  • In Civil Rights Department v. Cathy’s Creations, Inc., a California appellate court ruled that a bakery violated state civil rights law by refusing to sell a predesigned white cake for a same-sex wedding reception. The court rejected the bakery’s free speech and religious freedom defenses, finding that its policy was facially discriminatory.
  • In Miller v. City of Burien, a Washington federal court upheld the city’s requirement that a Methodist church obtain a permit before hosting a homeless encampment on its property. The court ruled that the permit process did not substantially burden the church’s religious exercise, as the city’s request was a minor inconvenience aimed at ensuring safety.
  • In Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. Doe, the Maryland Supreme Court upheld the retroactive elimination of the limitation period for filing child sexual abuse lawsuits, ruling that the General Assembly had the power to abrogate the statute of limitations.
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Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • President Donald Trump signed an executive order that established a temporary task force within the Justice Department aimed at eradicating anti-Christian bias within the federal government. The Executive Order names the Attorney General as the Task Force chair and vests within the Task Force with authority to review the activities of all executive departments and agencies for unlawful anti-Christian policies, practices, or conduct, recommend methods to revoke or terminate violative policies, develop strategies to protect the religious liberties of Americans, and more.
  •  In a new complaint filed for Arroyo-Castro v. Gasper, the plaintiff, a public school teacher,  alleges that DiLoreto Elementary & Middle School violated the Free Exercise clause when she was placed on administrative leave following her refusal to remove a crucifix that she had hung among other personal items in personal workspace near her classroom desk. The plaintiff alleges that the school district pressured her in several meetings to remove the crucifix, and suspended her for two days without pay shortly before placing her on administrative leave.
  • In Groveman v. Regents of the University of California, a California District Court recently dismissed a suit alleging that the University of California Davis alleging that the University violated the plaintiff’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights when it allowed a pro-Palestinian encampment to operate on campus grounds and exclude Plaintiff from walking on the sidewalk where the encampment was located, despite the fact that the encampment violated school policy. The District Court found that the causal connection between the University’s inaction and the injury the plaintiff suffered was too attenuated for a Free Exercise claim to survive. Further, the District Court held that it was impossible to draw a plausible inference that the defendant’s inaction favored or disfavored any religion or burdened the plaintiff’s religious exercise.
  • The Australian Parliament recently passed new amendments to the country’s Hate Crimes Law, strengthening the punishments for existing offenses that urge and force violence and creating new offenses that threaten force or violence against targeted groups and members of groups. These amendments were passed following several high-profile incidents of antisemitism that have risen across the country.
  • The Supreme Court of India recently held that the government of Chhattisgarh has two months to demarcate new, exclusive burial sites for Christians in an attempt to reduce disputes over burial grounds. The Supreme Court’s decision was made against the backdrop of continued persecution by Chhattisgarh state officials, in which Christians have been routinely (and sometimes violently) denied the right to a Christian burial.
Posted on by Mark Movsesian

A New History of the Religion Clauses

From Oxford University Press, here is a new history of the religion clauses, Free Exercise: Religion, the First Amendment, and the Making of America, focusing especially on the social and cultural context at the time of the Framing, and foregrounding the experience of marginalized religious communities like Jews and Catholics, among others. The author is historian Chris Beneke of Bentley University. Oxford’s description follows:

CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF. Those words, scratched on parchment in 1789, open the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. From them, countless interpretations have been drawn. As a consequence, an astonishing variety of activities in modern America-prayer after football games, Bible reading in classrooms, company healthcare policies, the baking of wedding cakes, and Ten Commandment displays around courthouses-have been alternately authorized, prohibited, or modified.

In this compelling historical account, Chris Beneke explains how the religion clauses came into existence and how they were woven into American culture. He brings prominent early national figures to life, including George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Paine, while chronicling the First Amendment’s relationship to defining social conditions like slavery, civility, family life, and the free market. Beneke probes what kind of nation America was when the religion clauses were framed and what kind of nation it was becoming.

Going beyond traditional church-state scholarship, Beneke also demonstrates how white women, African Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews, and nonbelievers widened religious liberty’s application and illuminated its boundaries. In doing so he makes a groundbreaking contribution to both constitutional history and the history of American pluralism.