LA County recognizes churches are constitutionally exempt from stay-at-home order
The language of the new Los Angeles COVID restriction specifically exempts religious gatherings as a matter of constitutional right.
Chronological & Subject Repository
Category: Constitution
December 2020
October 2020
Satanic Temple claims abortion is a religious ritual protected by the Free Exercise clause
The Satanic Temple is asserting a free exercise right to abortion as a religious ritual in lawsuits against the state of Missouri and against…
September 2020
Church deserves trial on constitutionality of shutdown order rules judge
Contempt of court is a quasi-criminal act, and the court cannot punish someone for breaking a regulation if that regulation is not constitutional.
“I dissent!” A Survey of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Religion Clause Jurisprudence
Ginsburg wrote little on the religion clauses, but she frequently joined with those Justices who favored a strong separation of church and state.
July 2020
Supreme Court: Religious schools immune from teachers’ discrimination claims
The ethical and moral onus is now on religious institutions as they decide whether to fire "ministerial" employees for reasons illegal in the secular…
Did the Supreme Court open the door to regulation of religious schools?
With the death of state Blaine Amendments this week, religious schools that welcome state money might find that they are now subject to regulation…
November 2019
Kentucky Court: Hands On Originals case dismissed – LGBTQ+ rights organization lacks standing
The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that an organization that sued Hands On Originals ("Hands On"), a t-shirt print company, for discrimination lacked standing…
July 2019
Supreme Court to hear challenge to Montana’s no-aid-to-religion law
The United States (U.S.) Supreme Court agreed to hear a case, Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue, concerning a Montana state legislative program that allowed…
June 2019
BREAKING: Supreme Court says WWI Cross can stand due to age
There's an old adage that bad facts make bad law, and in this case, given political exigencies, there was little to no chance that…
February 2019
High Court decision on Muslim clergy at execution challenges rule of law
In ruling that an unwritten rule, quite possibly manufactured after the execution was already scheduled, should not be subject to a judicial Establishment Clause…