As school systems and states across the country struggle with reopening plans, the ability of religious schools to claim a religious freedom exemption from restrictions designed to protect public health may lead to a new round of legal disputes every bit as hotly contested as those surrounding worship service restrictions.
While coronavirus infections expand across the country, lawsuits challenging public health restrictions on in-person worship services continue to wind through courts.
In Trump v. Pennsylvania, the U.S. Supreme Court again waded into a question about religious accommodations from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate.
Responding to the ruling on the ministerial exception, BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman emphasized that the Supreme Court’s opinion heightens the importance of good communication between religious employer and employee about their role and expectations.
But wait. Didn’t the Supreme Court recently uphold state restrictions on worship services as constitutional?
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court in Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue held that states subsidizing private education cannot under the First Amendment exclude religious schools from those funding programs, even when state law explicitly bars funding religious schools out of church-state concerns.
Faith.
Freedom.
For All.
The targeting of religious minorities.
The rise of Christian nationalism.
The politicization of houses of worship.
BJC brings people together to tackle today’s serious threats to religious liberty.
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Faith.
Freedom.
For All.
The targeting of religious minorities.
The rise of Christian nationalism.
The politicization of houses of worship.
BJC brings people together to tackle today’s serious threats to religious liberty.