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CV NEWS FEED // The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has submitted four petitions for Supreme Court review concerning several key cases in the upcoming 2024-2025 term, each aimed at safeguarding religious freedoms across the United States.
The Becket Fund is a nonprofit public interest legal and educational institution dedicated to safeguarding religious liberty. The institution aims to “protect the expression of all faiths, from A to Z — Anglican to Zoroastrian,” according to its website.
Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin LIRC: This case challenges a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that denied Catholic Charities a tax exemption, asserting that its services for “people with disabilities, the elderly, and the impoverished,” are not “typical” religious activities.
“In ruling that Catholic Charities did not qualify for a religious exemption from the State’s unemployment compensation program,” Becket stated, “the Wisconsin court of appeals both misinterpreted state law and violated the First Amendment.”
Becket petitioned the Supreme Court on August 9, 2024, with a response from Wisconsin due by November 8.
Apache Stronghold v. United States: The Becket Fund seeks to safeguard Oak Flat, a site for Western Apaches that hosts “sacred ceremonies and other religious events that cannot take place elsewhere,” from being destroyed by a foreign mining company.
According to Becket, Oak Flat is “considered the direct corridor to Apache religion — recognized in the National Register of Historic Places and sometimes compared to Mount Sinai for Jews.”
Following a Ninth Circuit Court decision permitting the project, Becket requested Supreme Court intervention on September 11, 2024.
Mahmoud v. McKnight: In Montgomery County, Maryland, diverse religious parents including Muslims, Jews, and Christians are “fighting for the right to be informed about and opt out of controversial books being read in elementary schools.”
Books being read cover topics such as “gender transitions and pride parades.”
“[O]ne book tasks three- and four-year-olds to search for images from a word list that includes ‘intersex flag,’ ‘[drag] queen,’ ‘underwear,’ ‘leather,’ and the name of a celebrated LGBTQ activist and sex worker,” Becket reported.
After a Fourth Circuit ruling upheld a no-notice policy, Becket filed a petition on September 12, 2024, to protect parental rights in education.
Diocese of Albany v. Harris: This case addresses New York’s abortion mandate, which requires employers to include abortion coverage in health plans, with religious exemptions only covering employers who agree to restrict their services to those of the same faith.
After a ruling by New York’s highest court against these organizations, Becket sought Supreme Court intervention, resulting in a directive for reconsideration. Despite this, the lower courts reaffirmed the abortion mandate.
Becket sought Supreme Court intervention after lower courts reaffirmed the mandate, submitting a petition on September 18, 2024.
