Back To the Battlefront on Religious Exemptions and Discrimination Law

Walter OlsonThe Supreme Court today agreed to review a challenge to Philadelphia ’s policy of excluding Catholic Social Services from its foster care system because of its refusal to place children with same‐​sex couples.Fulton v.City of Philadelphia could potentially clarify the heated ongoing conflict over the rights of religious objectors in discrimination law.Potentially is the word because it ’s far from clear on what issues the Court will choose to resolve the case. It might focus onwhether the city of Philadelphia overstepped the Court ’sMasterpiece Cakeshopguidance by showing improper animus against religion, and if so whether it matters (as the Third Circuit thought it did) that the city would have turned away a secular agency that followed the same placement policy. Or, with more dramatic implications, the Court might revisit itsEmployment Division v.Smith precedent, which holds that the Constitution affords no right to religious exemption from otherwise neutral and generally applicable laws.Note that Philadelphia was enforcing a local ordinance of its own making; the case is thus on a very different footing than if it were, say, a challenge to the Obama ‐​era regulations (which HHS has sinceproposed to rescind) that tried to arm ‐​twist all states and cities into adopting policies like Philadelphia’s. In the HHS episode, it was the liberal side of the controversy that was trying to impose a uniform st...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs