Religion Clause

Monday, April 20, 2026

Latter Day Saints Church Sues Podcaster for Trademark and Copyright Infringement

Last week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints filed a trademark and copyright infringement suit against John Dehlin who hosts the podcast Mormon Stories. The suit was filed after mediation efforts failed. The complaint (full text) Intellectual Reserve, Inc. v. Open Stories Foundation, (D UT, filed 4/17/2026), alleges in part:

Defendants ... operate a podcast under the name and mark MORMON STORIES. As Defendants are well aware, the public associates the term MORMON with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has used the mark MORMON and other names and marks incorporating the term MORMON since its founding nearly 200 years ago. Defendants’ use of Church trademarks and copyrighted materials has caused and will continue to cause individuals to be confused and access Defendants’ content mistakenly believing it comes from or is affiliated with or endorsed by the Church. This is not by accident. Defendants adopted a blue MORMON STORIES logo with a light-rays design prominently used by the Church, showing Defendants’ intent to capitalize on and increase confusion. Defendants’ logo was calculated to imitate the Church’s logos by using confusingly similar color, font, and other design elements....

The Church does not seek, in any way, to influence the content of Defendants’ podcast, but Defendants should not be allowed ... to cause confusion as to the source, affiliation, connection, endorsement, or authorization of Defendants’ podcast and other content.

The Church issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit. Deseret News reported at length on the lawsuit.

Supreme Court Grants Review on When Religious Schools Can Be Excluded from General State Programs

The U.S. Supreme Court this morning granted certiorari in St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton v. Roy, (Docket No. 25-581, cert. granted 4/20/2026). (Order List). In the case, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the nondiscrimination requirements of Colorado's Universal Preschool Program do not violate the free exercise or expressive association rights of Catholic schools that are excluded from the program because they insist on considering the sexual orientation and gender identity of a student and their parents in making decisions on who will be admitted. (See prior posting.) In granting review, the Court limited it grant to Questions 1 and 2 in the petition for certiorari:

1. Whether proving a lack of general applicability under Employment Division v. Smith requires showing unfettered discretion or categorical exemptions for identical secular conduct.

2. Whether Carson v. Makin displaces the rule of Employment Division v. Smith only when the government explicitly excludes religious people and institutions.

It excluded from the grant petitioner's third question:

3. Whether Employment Division v. Smith should be overruled.

Friday, April 17, 2026

U.S. Catholic Bishops Respond To VP Vance's Criticism of Pope Leo

In his Palm Sunday Homily last month, Pope Leo XIV said in part:

Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood” (Is 1:15).

Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a Turning Point USA Conference (video of the Vice President's remarks), criticized Pope Leo's statement, saying in part:

In the same way that it's important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.

The Vice President's statement led to a response (full text) posted yesterday by Bishop James Massa, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine. The Bishop's Statement said in part:

“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.”

Coast Guard Enters Settlement in Suit Over Religious Exemptions from Covid Vaccine Mandate

This week the Coast Guard entered a Settlement Agreement (full text) with three Coast Guard members who brought a class action contending that denial of religious accommodations from the military's COVID vaccine mandate violated RFRA, the 1st amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. The Agreement in Jackson v. Mullin, (ND TX, Settlement Agreement filed 4/14/2026) requires the Coast Guard to remove references in personnel records of service members' decision to remain unvaccinated. The Agreement further provides in part:

2... [T]he Coast Guard will issue an internet-releasable ALCOAST general message re-emphasizing or otherwise declaring that:

a) The COVID-19 vaccination mandate was unlawful as implemented and an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on service members.

b) The Coast Guard supports expressive activities, to include religious expression. Accommodation of sincerely held religious beliefs is a pillar of the Coast Guard’s commitment to treating all service members with dignity and respect. The Coast Guard works to support each service member’s religious practices to the broadest extent possible within the bounds of military readiness, unit cohesion, good order, discipline, health and safety. Discrimination on the basis of religion is contrary to the Coast Guard’s core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty....

4.... [T]he Coast Guard will post a statement of support for religious expression on its public website.... a) The statement ... shall read...: The United States Coast Guard supports expressive activities, to include religious expression. Accommodation of sincerely held religious beliefs is a pillar of the Coast Guard’s commitment to treating all service members with dignity and respect. The Coast Guard works to support each service member’s religious practices to the broadest extent possible within the bounds of military readiness, unit cohesion, good order, discipline, health and safety. Discrimination on the basis of religion is contrary to the Coast Guard’s core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty.....

Thomas More Society issued a press release announcing the Settlement Agreement.

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Justice Department Report Charges Biden Administration with Weaponization of FACE Act Enforcement

Yesterday, the Justice Department Office of Legal Policy's Weaponization Working Group published a 37-page report (with over 800 pages of Exhibits) titled The Biden Administration's Weaponization of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (full text of Report and Exhibits). Among the Report's conclusions are that the Biden DOJ "engaged in biased enforcement of the FACE Act" and "pursued more severe charges and significantly harsher sentences for peaceful pro-life defendants than violent pro-abortion defendants." The Report says in part:

Though the FACE Act was supposed to protect both pro-choice and pro-life facilities, Biden DOJ senior leadership and Task Force Members provided extensive support to abortion clinics, yet the Biden DOJ often ignored and downplayed vandalism and attacks against pregnancy resource centers or houses of worship.

The Justice Department issued a press release announcing release of the Report.

9th Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing in Vaccine Mandate Case

In Detwiler v. Mid-Columbia Medical Center, (9th Cir., April 15, 2926), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied both a panel rehearing and an en banc rehearing in a case involving a medical center employee's claimed religious objections to both a Covid vaccine requirement and to the accommodation granted by her employer. A 3-judge panel affirmed the district court's dismissal of the employee's Title VII lawsuit, concluding that her objections were secular, not religious. (See prior posting.) Her religious exemption from vaccination was conditioned, in part, on her having weekly antigen testing. She objected to that accommodation because she believed the ethylene oxide used in obtaining a nasal swab for the test was carcinogenic and her religion prohibited her from defiling her body in this manner.

In two dissenting opinions, a total of eight judges dissented from the denial of an en banc rehearing, some joining in both dissenting opinions. Judge Forrest's dissent, joined by five other judges, said in part:

Our role in assessing whether a plaintiff has shown a bona fide religious belief is a “narrow function.”... Generally, we may determine only whether the religious conflict identified by the plaintiff “reflects an honest conviction.”... This is because anything more extends beyond a judge’s competence....

The court’s reasoning gives no credence to Detwiler’s claim that she received revelation from God that informed her health choices. For those who believe that God can provide individualized guidance for daily living, whether that guidance relates to “secular” or “spiritual” matters is often a distinction without a difference—both emanate from beliefs about deity and its relationship with humanity. That is, many believers do not perceive that the spiritual and the secular are capable of neat separation as relates to matters of revelation....

Judge Tung, joined by six other judges, filed a dissenting opinion which said in part:

Detwiler properly alleged the religious basis of her objection to testing—namely, that her religion forbade her from ingesting a carcinogen, which she viewed as a defilement upon the temple of her body. That her objection was based in part on a medical finding—that the testing is carcinogenic—did not negate her religious motivation in refusing to submit to such testing....

... [T]he panel majority misapplied Title VII’s text and precedent interpreting “religion,” misconstrued Detwiler’s allegations, and split with the holdings of several other circuits.... But perhaps most problematic, the panel majority’s approach would recast as “purely secular” a person’s religious practices whenever those practices turn also on secular considerations. It is hard to imagine, frankly, what religious practice would not turn on secular considerations to some degree.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Religious Liberty Commission Holds Final Hearing; Chairman Rejects Church-State Separation

Yesterday, the President's Religious Liberty Commission held its final hearing, focusing on the past, present and future of religious liberty in America. The 5-hour hearing (video of full hearing) was again held at the Museum of the Bible. The Department of Justice press release reporting on the hearing lists ten witnesses who testified. The press release also quotes the Commission's Chairman:

“Today’s capstone hearing of President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission contained more powerful testimony and discussion about how people of religion are under assault by the secular left," said Chairman Dan Patrick. "It is time to set the record straight: there is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in the Constitution. For too long, the anti-God left has used this phrase to suppress people of religion in our country. During all 7 Commission hearings, witness after witness testified that the so-called ‘separation of church and state’ was used to take their God-given religious liberty rights away. Next month, the Commission will deliver our recommendations to President Trump to ensure that Americans’ religious liberty is safeguarded against evil forces seeking to suppress them in our country.”

RNS reports on the hearing. The report quotes a question that Commission Chairman Patrick directed to law professor Helen Alvaré: "Would it not be a good recommendation that every school, every university, every business, has to have that one sheet on the bulletin board about protecting people’s religious liberty, and that the separation of church and state is the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding?”

Ohio AG Sues to Prevent Closing of Reform Rabbinical School in Cincinnati

Ohio Attorney General David Yost has filed suit in an Ohio state trial court seeking to prevent Hebrew Union College (HUC) from closing its 150-year-old Cincinnati rabbinical school. The closure is planned for the end of the 2025-26 academic year. In 1950, when HUC (originally formed as a charitable trust) consolidated with the New York based Jewish Institute of Religion, the Consolidation Agreement provided that the consolidated non-profit corporation would maintain rabbinical schools in both Cincinnati and New York. The complaint (full text) in Yost v. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, (OH Com. Pl, filed 4/10/2026), alleges unjust enrichment and breaches of fiduciary duty. It seeks reformation of the charitable trust to fulfill the promise of maintaining a rabbinical school in Cincinnati. The complaint alleges in part:

[A] significant number and monetary amount of the donations made to the College prior to April 2022 were made due, in whole or in part, to the College's commitment to a permanent rabbinical school in Cincinnati...

The College has a duty, among others, to hold and administer assets in accordance with the intentions of donors....

Relief requested in the complaint includes requiring assets held or given in Ohio be used to support a permanent school in the Cincinnati area for research, education and preparation of rabbis and leaders of Reform Judaism.

Attorney General Yost issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit. The press release points out that previous litigation resulted in a settlement to protect the College's rare book collection.

9th Circuit Hears Arguments on School's Anti-Bias Policy Protecting Transgender Students

On April 13, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Theis v. Intermountain Education Service District - Board of Directors (video of full oral arguments). In the case, an Oregon federal district court upheld a school district's anti-bias policy. The school district had concluded that a school social worker's the display of books titled He is He and She is She constituted a hostile expression toward a person because of their gender identity. Barring the social worker from displaying these books when students are in his office did not violate the social worker's free exercise rights. However, he could display them when no students were present. (See prior posting.) ADF issued a press release announcing the oral arguments.

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Catholic Hospice Sues Over NY Standards for Care of Transgender Patients

Last week, Dominican Sisters who operate a home that provides palliative care for indigent, terminally ill cancer patients filed suit in a New York federal district court challenging New York's requirements for care of transgender patients. The complaint (full text) in Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne v. Hochul, filed 4/6/2026) alleges in part:

New York’s LGBTQ Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights ... require long-term care facilities to assign patients to rooms based on stated “gender identity” rather than biological sex even over the opposition of the roommate, to permit residents and their visitors of one sex to access bathrooms set aside for those of the opposite sex, to use patients’ “preferred pronouns” even when the patient is not present, to use language and to “create communities” affirming patients’ sexual preferences, to accommodate patients’ desire for extramarital relations, and to post notices affirming compliance with these requirements....

... The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and Rosary Hill Home operate in accordance with the Ethical and Religious Directives and the teachings of the Catholic Church. They cannot comply with the Mandate without violating these sincerely held religious beliefs.....

Requiring a person to identify another by a sex other than his or her God-gifted sex would therefore require such a person to act against central, unchangeable and architectural teachings of the Catholic faith. It would contradict the teachings of the Bible concerning God’s creative sovereignty, contradict reason and truth, and betray our sacred obligation not to knowingly harm other persons, particularly the most vulnerable. The implications are so much greater than whether to utter the words “he” or “she.” Indeed, to demand that a Catholic deny another’s sex is to require him or her to affirm another religious worldview....

The complaint alleges 7 counts: Free Exercise; Religious Autonomy Doctrine; Ministerial Exception; Establishment Clause; Equal Protection; Free Speech; and Expressive Association.

NewsNation reports on the lawsuit.

Monday, April 13, 2026

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Plaintiff Lacks Standing to Challenge Creation of Taks Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias

In Hall v U.S. Department of Justice, (ND CA, April 9, 2026), a California federal district court held that plaintiff lacks standing to challenge on Establishment Clause grounds the Justice Department's use of Congressionally appropriated funds to create the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. Concluding that plaintiff lacks taxpayer standing, the court said in part:

If a plaintiff cannot show that the challenged action “was expressly authorized or mandated by any specific congressional enactment,” then that plaintiff’s lawsuit “is not directed at an exercise of congressional power, and . . . lacks the requisite logical nexus between taxpayer status and the type of legislative enactment attacked.”...

... [A]s alleged in his FAC, Hall is challenging allegedly unauthorized actions by the DOJ. He thus cannot show that those challenged actions were “expressly authorized or mandated by any specific congressional enactment.”