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

• The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a decision blocking Idaho’s nearly total abortion ban, specifically examining whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act overrides state laws like Idaho’s Defense of Life Act. President Biden criticized the decision for allowing Idaho’s nearly complete abortion ban to be reinstated.
• In United States v. Gallagher, a Tennessee federal court limited the extent to which defendants, facing charges for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic, can reference their religious beliefs. The court stated that discussion of religion can be used to establish intent or purpose, but could not be used as a defense.
• In Church of the Celestial Heart v. Garland, a California federal judge refused to dismiss a RFRA suit challenging the Controlled Substance Act, which restricts the church’s use of Ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic drug.
• The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is being sued by a Jewish Israeli student claiming discrimination and hostility; the complaint alleges biased admissions and increased harassment after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
• A Yale professor has filed a sex discrimination suit against the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York for rejecting her application to become Abyssinian’s senior pastor.
• Pope Francis, in his recent remarks to the Diplomatic Corps at the Holy See, called for a global ban on surrogate motherhood, stating that a child should never be the basis of a commercial contract.