Contrary to its hopes, then, the Hutterville Colony found no secular enlightenment in the South Dakota Supreme Court in the wake of Hosanna-Tabor. Instead, the religious community must rely on its own internal dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve its decade-long controversy as to who shall reign supreme at Hutterville.
While it remains unclear whether additional litigation will ensue as a result of the florists’ discrimination against Ahlquist, one thing remains certain: student-plaintiffs often face backlash from a myriad of sources within their local communities in response to their Establishment Clause challenges. Thankfully, though, students such as Jessica Ahlquist are courageous enough to stand up for their First Amendment rights in the face of such community hostility.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held on Wednesday that a “ministerial exception” barred a parochial school teacher from pursuing an employment discrimination claim against the church that runs the school. This opinion dramatically limits the scope of protection provided to religious employees under the “primary duties” test, the standard previously used by several federal circuits. Although lower courts can continue to carve out areas in which exceptional circumstances may compel the conclusion that the ministerial exception need not apply, “ministers” now receive no protection under civil rights or other discrimination statutes.
At the very least, Judge Matheson’s ruling is a strong statement of the constitutional case against such legislation as the Oklahoma amendment. Couched in the language of Establishment Clause jurisprudence as it is, it makes clear not only that the grounds for the legislation are nonexistent, but also that its effect amounts to unconstitutional discrimination.
For the last seventy-five years, Augusta, Georgia has predominantly been known for its connection to the Masters, one of the nation’s most tradition-laden events in all of sports. But less than a mile from Magnolia Lane, Augusta State University (ASU) has become embroiled in a legal controversy with a former [...]
On Monday, November 28, a group of 20 to 30 Occupy Harvard protesters attempted to disrupt a Goldman Sachs recruiting session being hosted by Harvard’s Office of Career Services. Three days later, the Crimson ran an editorial reprimanding the protesters’ behavior.
On the subject of the First Amendment Gingrich trafficks in exaggerations and outright fabrications entirely unworthy of his Establishment respectability and his Big Thinker moniker. His conjuring of a fictitious conspiracy against First Amendment religious values as a predicate for a wide-ranging attack on the very independence of the American judiciary is particularly dangerous, and particularly worthy of exposure.
The Supreme Court of North Carolina held this month that the arrest of a drunk driver by a police officer of a private Presbyterian university did not violate the Establishment Clause. The ruling represents a major victory for religiously affiliated universities throughout the country, many of which have their own [...]
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