Religious Law

Citing 14th Amendment, federal court judge voids Texas’ fetal burial law

A 2017 Texas law that called for health care providers to bury or cremate fetuses—regardless of a patient’s wishes or religious beliefs—was struck down this week in federal court. The law was scheduled to go into effect in February, the New York Times reports. Besides abortions, the law applied to…

Sep 7, 2018 9:50 AM CDT

Masterpiece Cakeshop baker refuses to make cake celebrating gender transition, spurring new suit

After winning his case before the U.S. Supreme Court, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop is challenging another decision by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Aug 15, 2018 11:18 AM CDT

New catechism calling for end to death penalty affirms evolving doctrine, cardinal tells ABA panel

Updated: In an appearance at the ABA Annual Meeting on Thursday, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said revisions to the catechism on the death penalty reflect evolving church doctrine and an acknowledgement that the scales of justice can’t be rebalanced after a murder.

Aug 2, 2018 11:17 AM CDT

Trial on fetal burial law begins with judge’s defense of his motives

A trial on the constitutionality of a Texas fetal remains burial law began Monday with a federal judge proclaiming that he has “no predisposition” in the case.

Jul 17, 2018 1:20 PM CDT

Kavanaugh praised Rehnquist’s stand against unenumerated rights in Roe v. Wade dissent

The late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was Brett Kavanaugh’s “first judicial hero,” the Supreme Court nominee said in a Constitution Day speech last September. Kavanaugh praised Rehnquist for taking a stand against unenumerated rights in the Constitution in his Roe v. Wade dissent, for his law-and-order limits on the…

Jul 12, 2018 12:33 PM CDT

Supreme Court tells court to reconsider case of florist who refused flowers for gay wedding

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday told the Washington Supreme Court to reconsider a decision upholding a fine and citation against a Christian florist who refused to provide flowers for a gay wedding.

Jun 25, 2018 12:21 PM CDT

Supreme Court cites agency hostility in ruling for Christian baker

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Monday that Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission violated the free exercise rights of a Christian baker by showing hostility to his explained religious reasons for refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding.

Jun 4, 2018 9:45 AM CDT

Will swing voter Kennedy uphold Trump’s travel ban? Oral arguments show support for US position

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy indicated support for President Donald Trump’s authority to institute his travel ban during oral arguments on Wednesday.

Apr 25, 2018 12:49 PM CDT

Crash survivor sues publisher, claims he was exploited by book’s false claim of visit to heaven

Updated: An Ohio man who survived a severe car crash as a boy in 2004 has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was financially exploited and his privacy invaded by a book’s false claim that he visited heaven. The plaintiff, William Alexander “Alex” Malarkey, filed the suit on Monday against…

Apr 12, 2018 8:00 AM CDT

Religious freedom law doesn’t shield funeral home that fired transgender worker, 6th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects a funeral home director who was fired after disclosing that she was transitioning from male to female. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Michigan funeral home was not shielded by the…

Mar 8, 2018 7:00 AM CST

Investigator is jailed for refusing to testify in capital case on religious grounds

An investigator was sent back to jail on Wednesday after she told a Colorado judge her religious beliefs prevent her from testifying for prosecutors in a capital appeal. Greta Lindecrantz, a 67-year-old Mennonite, told an Arapahoe County judge that she would not have a problem testifying “if death wasn’t on…

Mar 1, 2018 11:53 AM CST

En banc 4th Circuit says Trump’s latest travel ban is ‘tainted with animus toward Islam’

A second federal appeals court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban.

Feb 15, 2018 11:48 AM CST

Satanic Temple’s challenge to abortion law heads to Missouri Supreme Court

The Missouri Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Tuesday in a suit filed by a Satanic Temple follower that challenges the state’s abortion informed consent law. The suit filed by a resident known as Mary Doe says the law violates her deeply held religious beliefs in violation of the state’s…

Jan 23, 2018 11:12 AM CST

DOJ backs Archdiocese of Washington in suit over Christmas bus ads

The Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief backing the Archdiocese of Washington in a suit in which it sued the the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority for refusing to display its Christmas advertisements. The Hill, the Washington Post and the National Law Journal had the story. The archdiocese…

Jan 19, 2018 3:15 PM CST

Amish family ordered by state appellate court to use electric sewer pump

A split three-judge panel representing a Pennsylvania appellate court has ordered an Old Order Amish family, whose religious beliefs frown upon the use of electricity, to connect to a municipal sewer through an electric grinder pump. The Legal Intelligencer, PennLive and York Daily Record had the story. Sugar Grove Township’s…

Jan 16, 2018 3:54 PM CST