On balance, religious conservatives fared well under Roberts, Alito

WASHINGTON — Conservative religious advocacy organizations roundly praised the most recent Supreme Court term, saying they are pleased with the way the court resolved several high-profile church-state disputes.

The court left high school students with considerable leeway to voice religious opinions, cleared the way for interest group-funded campaign ads and shielded the White House’s faith-based initiative from challenge in the courts. The justices also upheld the constitutionality of a federal ban on so-called “partial-birth” abortions.

In the student speech case, Morse v. Frederick, the court held that public school officials do not violate a student’s free speech rights when they prohibit displays that promote illegal drug use. In the ruling, however, the court majority suggested that schools could not similarly suppress speech that voiced real political or religious points of view.

The case left wiggle room for future litigation about religious expression in public schools, said Ira C. Lupu, a law professor at George Washington University and co-director of legal research for the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy. “The kid in this case had a goofball message,” Lupu said, referring to student Joseph Frederick’s 14-foot banner that said “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”

“But when a kid shows up with a serious political or religious message, that’s no longer the kid being the goofball. And you can see how the argument will go,” he said. “The school will say that this undermines its ability to enforce its tolerance policy and the other side will say that this is religious or political speech.”

Lupu pointed to a recent appeals court case in which a California teenager said his First Amendment rights were violated when high school officials forbade him from wearing a T-shirt that read “Homosexuality Is Shameful.”

“The family is still maneuvering to litigate this,” he said. “People really want to get this case up before the high court.”

Meanwhile, in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, the court barred taxpayer challenges to executive branch funding of arguably religious activities, such as faith-based social services. Taxpayers are still free to use federal courts to challenge congressional funding decisions.

But Congress could get around that distinction, said Douglas Laycock of the University of Michigan Law School. “In effect, the court is saying that Congress may appropriate big lump sums to the executive and not say anything specifically besides a wink and nod, and there will be no taxpayer standing,” he said.

— RNS