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Around the Web

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

  • In Stinson et al v. Fayetteville School District No. 1, et al, regarding an Arkansas law that would require elementary schools to hang the Ten Commandments in classrooms, the Court granted a preliminary injunction enjoining certain school districts from complying with the law. 
  •  In Chaudry v. Thorsen, an Illinois District Court rejected any Establishment Clause claims against a high school teacher brought by the parents of a student, wherein the teacher provided resources to the student who was seeking to convert from Islam to Christianity. 
  • In a case in front of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Court held that a German Catholic Organization could not dismiss one of its employees on the grounds of leaving the Catholic church.  
  • Earlier this week, the President’s Religious Liberty Commission held a hearing on the topic of religious liberty in the healthcare industry, discussing topics such as vaccine mandates and potential threats to religious liberties in the medical field. 
  • In Arizona Mining Reform Coalition v. U.S. Forest Service, the 9th Circuit again upheld a transfer of land, which includes ceremonial religious grounds of the Apache tribe, to a Copper Mining company. 
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Around the Web

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

  • Sitting en banc, the 5th Circuit overturned a panel decision declaring a Louisiana law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all classrooms of the state’s public schools and universities unconstitutional. The Court reasoned that the dispute was not yet ripe for review.
  • A Woman’s Concern, Inc. v. Healey, (D MA, Feb. 17, 2026) was an action brought by Your Options Medical Centers (YOM), a religiously affiliated pregnancy resource center, wherein they alleged that the state of Massachusetts’ Department of Public Health violated their free speech, free exercise and equal protection rights when it disseminated information critical of pregnancy resource centers. This week, the federal district court for the District of Massachusetts rejected this claim, primarily reasoning that YOM was not targeted for actual or threatened enforcement action.
  • President Trump posted a Presidential Message on Ash Wednesday, calling for all Americans to remember that the Lenten themes of the “prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have been foundational to our strength from the earliest days of our national story.”
  • The Department of Justice announced that it is opening Title IX investigations into three Michigan school districts “to determine whether they have included sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in any class for grades pre-K-12.” If the districts are including such content, “the investigations will examine whether the schools have notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction.”
  • The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released its “Annual Report on the State of Religious Liberty in the United States.” “The report summarizes developments on national questions and federal policies affecting religious liberty in the U.S., including the role of religion in American public life, and the challenges and opportunities of the present moment.”
  • Earlier this month, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas received a draft constitution “that aims to transition the PA to a full-fledged state”. The draft contains a number of provisions on religion and religious freedom.

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Around the Web

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

  • In Magram v. Beavers, a retired Brigadier General in the Air National Guard sued his former supervisor in California state court, alleging both discrimination and wrongful termination on account of his Jewish heritage.
  • In Vitsaxaki v. Skaneateles Central School District, a Greek Orthodox mother sued a school district in federal court in New York, alleging that the district had socially transitioned her middle-school aged daughter without her knowledge and consent in violation of the mother’s free exercise right to raise her child according to her religious beliefs.
  • In Chavez v. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, a federal district court in California refused to certify as a class a group of employees who were denied a religious exemption from a COVID vaccine mandate due to the inconsistent nature of the class members’ beliefs.
  • In Babayev v. Azerbaijan, the European Court of Human Rights held that Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights was violated by an Azerbaijani law prohibiting citizens with religious training abroad from conducting Islamic religious rituals within the country.
  • In State of Florida v. Gonzalez, a state appellate court found that Florida’s clergy-penitent privilege did not apply to a recording of a defendant’s meeting with church leaders in a child molestation case, since the statutory requirement of confidentiality was not met.
  • The EEOC announced that it has entered into a $70,000 settlement with an employer who refused to grant an accommodation to a Muslim employee regarding its no-beard policy, despite the fact it would not cost the employer anything to do so nor burden its operations.
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Legal Spirits 053: Tom Berg on Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age

A protester calling for justice for Elijah McClain clashes with a member of the Proud Boys in Denver, Colorado, U.S., November 21, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

Welcome back! In our first Legal Spirits episode of the academic year, we interview our friend, law professor Tom Berg (University of St. Thomas) about his new book, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age. We explore how fights about religious liberty both reflect and contribute to the deep social division in the US today–but also how a commitment to religious liberty might help ease that division. Listen in!

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Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Video of Last Week’s Panel at Cardozo

The Floersheimer Center at Cardozo Law School has posted a video (below) of last week’s panel discussion on “The Supreme Court and New Frontiers in Religious Liberty,” in which I was honored to participate, along with Nelson Tebbe (Cornell), Elizabeth Reiner Platt (Columbia Law), and Giselle Klapper (Sikh Coalition) . Thanks again to Michael Pollak, Hui Yang, and the Floersheimer team for having me–and for hosting a cordial and productive exchange of disparate views in the best tradition of the legal academy.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

New from Munoz on Religious Liberty and the Founding

This month, the University of Chicago Press releases a new book by our friend, Vincent Phillip Munoz (Notre Dame), Religious Liberty and the American Founding. A few years ago, we hosted an online symposium on Phillip’s work on the Founder’s understanding of the natural right of religious liberty–what the right entailed and what it did not entail–and his new book continues to address that subject. Looks very interesting. The publisher’s description is below. Congrats, Phillip!

An insightful rethinking of the meaning of the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom.

The Founders understood religious liberty to be an inalienable natural right. Vincent Phillip Muñoz explains what this means for church-state constitutional law, uncovering what we can and cannot determine about the original meanings of the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses and constructing a natural rights jurisprudence of religious liberty.  

Drawing on early state constitutions, declarations of religious freedom, Founding-era debates, and the First Amendment’s drafting record, Muñoz demonstrates that adherence to the Founders’ political philosophy would lead neither to consistently conservative nor consistently liberal results. Rather, adopting the Founders’ understanding would lead to a minimalist church-state jurisprudence that, in most cases, would return authority from the judiciary to the American people. Thorough and convincing, Religious Liberty and the American Founding is key reading for those seeking to understand the Founders’ political philosophy of religious freedom and the First Amendment Religion Clauses.

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Around the Web

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

  • In CI.G v. Siegfried, the Tenth Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of a high school student’s claim that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was expelled for an antisemitic Snapchat post. 
  • In Ervins v. Sun Prairie Area School District, a Wisconsin federal district court rejected a claim that a sixth-grade lesson on ancient Mesopotamia, which called on students to apply the Code of Hammurabi to a hypothetical situation, amounted to a violation of the Establishment Clause. 
  • In Gonzales v. Collier, a Texas federal district issued a temporary injunction barring the execution of death row inmate Ramiro Gonzales unless authorities grant all of his requested religious accommodations. Gonzales requests that his spiritual advisor be allowed in the death chamber so she can pray aloud, hold his hand, and place her other hand on his chest. 
  • In Perlot v. Green, an Idaho federal district court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the University of Idaho to rescind no-contact orders issued to three law students who are members of the Christian Legal Society (“CLS”). The University issued the no-contact orders after the CLS students discussed with a female LGBTQ student the Christian biblical view of marriage and sexuality. 
  • In Rutan-Ram v. Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, a Tennessee state three-judge panel held that a Jewish couple who were denied foster-parent training by a state-funded Christian child placement agency lacked standing to challenge a Tennessee law permitting faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to refuse to provide services that violate their religious convictions. 
  • In State of Wisconsin v. Whitaker, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a defendant’s claim that his religious liberty and associational rights were violated when the judge sentencing him made reference to his Amish community. 
Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Thanks to the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Just a note to thank the organizers of last week’s conference on religious liberty at the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal for hosting me. The event brought together a diverse group of scholars with truly differing points of view–something for which the organizers deserve a lot of praise. I presented a paper on the 50th anniversary this year of Wisconsin v. Yoder and received some very helpful comments. I look forward to seeing my essay in print in a forthcoming symposium edition of the Law Journal, and to reading the other participants’ papers!

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Upcoming Symposium on Religious Liberty at Loyola University Chicago

A programming note: I’m looking forward to participating in this upcoming symposium on religious liberty in Chicago later this spring. The editors of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal have put together a great program and I’m honored to be among the contributors. Details below:

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal SymposiumDownload
2022 Symposium – Religious Liberty
2022 Symposium – Religious Liberty
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Around the Web

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