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Supreme Court

Justices take up cases on religious tax exemption and California climate change mandate

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejecting efforts by Catholic Charities to seek an exemption from the state’s unemployment tax. Catholic Charities contends that both it and the four agencies that operate under its umbrella qualify for the exemption because they are operated “primarily for religious purposes.” The group, which is controlled by the bishop of the diocese of Superior, says that the state supreme court’s contrary decision, which rested … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Christian school renews effort to expand religious freedom over employment

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

Nearly three years ago, the Supreme Court extended a First Amendment protection known as the “ministerial exception,” a court-created doctrine that bars courts from reviewing employment decisions by religious employers about their ministers. Last year, four justices issued a statement regarding the denial of a petition that sought to further … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court grants review in new batch of cases, including dispute on religious rights of employees

The Supreme Court will review how employers must accommodate their employees’ religious practices, how courts should decide whether threatening statements are protected by the First Amendment, and whether a local government violated the Constitution when it confiscated and sold a $ 40,000 home based on the owner’s failure to pay $ 15,000 in property taxes.

Those issues are among a slew of new disputes that the justices added to their docket on Friday afternoon in an order list from … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Relist-palooza: Religious exercise, the False Claims Act, takings clause, RICO, bank secrecy, and more

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

This Friday’s conference represents a significant date in the Supreme Court’s schedule: Based on the schedule prescribed by the court’s rules, it is the last conference at which a cert petition can be granted and the case heard during the court’s April sitting. Because it appears that sitting is mostly empty at … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Beards and Brady (i.e., religious freedom and criminal procedure)

This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether Georgia corrections can prevent a Muslim prisoner from growing an untrimmed beard in accordance with his religious beliefs, and whether defendants can only bring Brady claims for the prosecution’s failure to disclose exculpatory evidence if they meet a due diligence requirement.

Muslim prisoner argues that Georgia corrections’ limit on beard lengths violates his religious exercise

In Smith v. Ward, Lester Smith … Read the rest

Supreme Court

In the case of the praying football coach, both sides invoke religious freedom

Joseph Kennedy had never coached football when Bremerton High School, a public school near Seattle, Washington, hired him in 2008. He was too small to play in high school, and his football experience was limited to playing for two years while he was in Hawaii serving in the Marines.

Kennedy describes the school district’s decision to hire him to coach the school’s junior varsity team and to serve as an assistant for the varsity team as a “fluke”: His … Read the rest