• The Supreme Court could hear cases next term that have important implications for Americans of faith, according to legal experts who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
• The Groff v. DeJoy ruling broke nearly 50 years of legal precedent on religious considerations in the workplace, and First Liberty Institute president and CEO Kelly Shackelford said she believes the flood of lawsuits on the subject will allow courts to set new standards.
• “Since 2011, it’s been really interesting to look back over the past decade or so, and the Supreme Court has heard 25 cases involving religious freedom issues, and 24 of the 25 cases have been in favor of religious freedom,” Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel for the Beckett Religious Freedom Foundation, told DCNF.

After handing down several religious freedom victories last year, the Supreme Court may consider several faith-based cases involving free speech, sidewalk counseling outside abortion clinics and workplace accommodations, according to legal experts who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The court handed down two long-awaited rulings in June. 303 Creative LLC v. Ellenis and Groff vs. Dejoy — The former deals with the right of an employer not to be compelled to use a particular type of speech; the latter deals with the right of employees to religious considerations. Legal experts told the DCNF that the cases set the stage for several other cases to be filed in the Supreme Court next year. (Related: ‘The Lord Was at Work’: Christian web designer at center of landmark Supreme Court ruling speaks out)

“So far, the courts have only filled about a third of the cases, perhaps 20 out of 60 or 20 out of 70, and the full-scale filling of religious freedom cases has not yet begun,” Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel for the Beckett Religious Freedom Foundation, told DCNF. “So we’re kind of in a position to ask what the big cases are going to be before the Supreme Court in the near future.”

One such incident you may hear about is about Jack Phillips, a Christian baker. won In 2018, a Supreme Court case was filed for refusing to make a cake for a gay couple. Despite an initial victory, Phillips was again sued in 2021 for refusing to decorate a cake for a transsexual party, and is currently awaiting a Colorado Supreme Court ruling, according to John Bursh, senior counsel and deputy director of appeals defense for the Alliance to Defend Freedom (ADF).

“The final question before the Colorado Supreme Court is whether it considers the artistry of the cake to qualify as speech,” Bursh said. “The U.S. Supreme Court in the 303 Creative case quoted favorably in the briefs that spoke of visual artists, and in those briefs that spoke of cake artists. So if the Colorado Supreme Court were only to carefully consider the Supreme Court’s ruling in 303 Creative, it should determine the outcome of Jack’s case, but if for any reason they disagree, they will have to go back to the Supreme Court and seek relief again.”

Another religious war in progress Hittle vs Stockton City, The case is now pending in the Ninth Circuit. Fire chief Ron Hittle fired for attending a Christian leadership conference. According to Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of First Liberty Institute (FLI), Groff’s ruling will bring Hitl’s case to the forefront.

The Groff case involved a postal worker who was forced to retire after failing to obtain religious accommodation to miss work on Sundays. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that an employer can refuse such a request only if it can prove that it “causes a substantial increase in costs related to the employee’s conduct.” [an employer’s] The “certain business” law changed a legal precedent that had been in place for nearly 50 years. need Shackelford said the employee’s request was “reasonable” to avoid “undue hardship” for the company.

“[Groff] We changed the protection of religious liberty in the workplace and actually restored religious liberty in the workplace,” Shackelford told DCNF. “but [the Supreme Court] I won’t go into the details of what it will look like, and by presenting a new standard we are abandoning the old one. This means that all future lawsuits that will unfold under this new standard will arise. “

The Supreme Court could also take up a case involving Catholic pro-life activist Debra Vitaliano, who cannot pray or serve outside women considering an abortion under Westchester County, New York law, which establishes bubble zones 100 feet around abortion clinics.

Beckett sued Representing Vitaliano in 2022, he argued that the law violated his First Amendment right to express beliefs and concerns about abortion. The Supreme Court upheld a similar law. Hill vs. Colorado In a 2000 trial, judges said their First Amendment right to free speech was not violated by restricting demonstrators and foot evangelists from coming within eight feet of women and clinic workers.

The ruling has been criticized by many judges over the years, and Goodrich said Vitaliano’s case, if accepted, would go directly to the Supreme Court to challenge the previous ruling.

“[W]Defendants challenged this under the free speech clause, and the court said that while there were many criticisms against Hill, only the Supreme Court could overturn its decision,” Goodrich said. “So we’re going to the Supreme Court and say, ‘This is the tool you’ve been waiting for to get the free speech doctrine right.'”

All three attorneys said that while you can never predict how a court will decide in a particular case, the judge’s record over the past decade shows a strong stance on protecting the rights of religious Americans.

“What’s really interesting is that over the past decade or so since 2011, the Supreme Court has heard 25 cases involving religious liberty issues, and 24 out of 25 have favored the religious liberty side,” Goodrich said.

“When religion thrives, culture thrives,” Bursh told DCNF. “The court has so far [protecting] It is that the language of this U.S. Constitution is so clear and broad in protecting these rights, and that the protection of freedom of religion and freedom of speech has been so strongly ingrained in our nation’s traditions dating back to our founding that the courts are reluctant to curb it in any way, even though government officials appear to do so more frequently. “

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