Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • In Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, the state filed a remedial brief arguing that the discrimination found to be unconstitutional in the case could be remedied by ending the exemption for all religious organizations or expanding it to cover Catholic Charities.
  • In Ruiz v. Nevada Department of Corrections, the 9th Circuit upheld the district court’s denial of request by a Messianic Jewish inmate for a special diet. 
  • Last week, an HVAC technician filed a suit in New York alleging that his firing violated Title VII, after his employer stationed him with a female worker despite his accommodation request rooted in a sincerely held religious belief that he cannot be alone with women other than his wife.
  • In Catholic Charities v. Whitmer, Catholic counselors are challenging a Michigan law that banned them from helping children struggling with their biological sex.  
  • In Armenia, multiple clergymen have been detained by the government for allegedly inciting violent coups, showcasing the continued government crackdown on the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • In National Religious Broadcasters v. Werfel, filed in federal district court in Texas this week, plaintiffs claim that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional as it applies to churches. This amendment prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from supporting or opposing political candidates.   
  • In Hunter v. U.S. Dep’t of Education, the 9th Circuit held that the religious exemption in Title IX violates neither the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause nor the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
  • In Nunez v. Wolf, the 3rd Circuit found that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections did not have a compelling interest in denying a Muslim inmate religious accommodations.
  • In Couzens v. City of Forest Park, Ohio, the 6th Circuit affirmed that off-duty police officers’ assistance in removing a pastor from a congregation did not violate the pastor’s free exercise rights. The pastor had been dismissed from his position and thus the officers acted reasonably by assisting in his removal.
  • A group of Jewish professors at a New York university petitioned for cert at the Supreme Court in a lawsuit demanding the right to break away from their union’s representation. A lawsuit filed on the professors behalf in 2022 alleged that the union is antisemitic, and that forcing them to be represented by the union is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
  • In Italy, an unusual clash between church and state is publicly taking place. Pope Francis and Italy’s bishops are openly challenging the government’s proposed laws concerning regional autonomy and migration.