Religion Clause

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

DHS Seeks Land Near Catholic Shrine for Border Wall Construction

As reported by Axios, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to take by eminent domain 14 acres of land belonging to the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico. According to the complaint (full text) in United States v. 14.259 Acres of Land, (D NM, filed 5/7/2026), the land is being acquired to use for roads, fencing, vehicle barriers, security lighting, cameras, sensors, and structures that will be part of President Trump's border wall. The land is at the base of Mount Cristo Rey. At the top of the mountain is a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Jesus. Each Fall, on the Feast Day of Christ the King, thousands climb the mountain to participate in a Mass. According to Mint, the Diocese will raise defenses under the Free Exercise clause and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Noise Ordinance Arrest Did Not Violate First Amendment or State RFRA

In Acevedo v. Zatora,(ND IL, May 11, 2026), an Illinois federal district court dismissed plaintiff's claims that police officers violated his free speech and free exercise rights when they arrested him for violating Chicago's noise ordinance. The ordinance prohibits amplified sound on public property that is louder than average conversational level at 100 feet distance. Acevedo and six others set up a microphone on a public sidewalk across from a Planned Parenthood clinic. Acevedo contends that his amplified speech was no louder than permitted under the Ordinance. The court said in part:

Acevedo’s First Amendment grievance ... is not with the noise ordinance’s constitutionality, either facially or as applied to his circumstances. He instead challenges defendants’ decision to arrest him for violating the noise ordinance despite his compliance with it and purportedly owing to his protected speech. This claim is indistinguishable from Acevedo’s First Amendment retaliation claim ... where he alleges that he was unjustly arrested in retaliation for his protected speech, despite his compliance with the noise ordinance....

In dismissing Acevedo's retaliation claim, the court concluded that Acevedo was arrested for disobeying an officer's order to stop using the microphone, not because of the religious or political content of his speech.

The court also dismissed Acevedo's claim against the city of Chicago. Acevedo contended that the city has a policy of "preventing Christian street preachers (and presumably others) from using voice amplification on the public way by misapplying the noise ordinance to prohibit all amplified religious speech (and possibly other speech) regardless of volume or compliance with the ordinance’s actual requirements." The court said that the complaint did not give the city fair notice of the action Acevedo was challenging. The court said in part:

Do officers involved in the allegedly problematic practice exclusively target Christian street preachers engaged in religious speech, or do the officers also target street preachers of “all” faiths and other individuals not engaged in religious speech at all? Do officers consistently invoke the noise ordinance when they encounter Christian street preachers, or do they arrest Christian street preachers for other alleged infractions and without invoking the noise ordinance at all.

Dismissing Acevedo's claim under the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the court said in part:

Acevedo has not alleged that he faced a “coercive choice” between abandoning his religious convictions or complying with a City regulation. Rather, Acevedo alleges that he did comply with the City’s ordinance while exercising his religious convictions.

The court allowed Acevedo to move ahead on his 4th Amendment false arrest claim.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Ohio AG Resigns to Take Position with Christian Legal Advocacy Organization

Dayton Daily News last week reported that term-limited Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has resigned, effective June 7, in order to take a position with the Christian legal advocacy organization Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF issued a press release last week announcing Yost's appointment, saying in part:

Alliance Defending Freedom CEO, President, and Chief Counsel Kristen Waggoner announced Thursday that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost will join ADF as Vice President of Strategic Research and Innovation.

ADF is the world’s largest legal organization committed to advancing every person’s God-given right to live and speak the truth. With litigation and public policy spanning six continents, ADF fights in the most consequential legal and cultural battlegrounds of our time—preserving free speech, religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and parental rights....

In his new role, Yost will focus on expanding ADF’s strategic research capabilities and developing innovative approaches to advancing freedom globally....

USCIRF Urges President to Fill Position of Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom yesterday issued a statement (full text) urging President Trump to select a nominee to fill the position of Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and urging the Senate to swiftly confirm the nomination. The USCIRF Statement says in part:

President Trump has engaged in some important IRF policy decisions, including the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and the expansion of visa restrictions against IRF violators and their families.... However, the present lack of ambassadorial leadership on IRF matters prevents the U.S. government from fulfilling its potential in leading global efforts to advance this vital issue—a problem that can be solved through a swift nomination and confirmation process.

As previously reported, in April 2025, President Trump nominated Mark Walker, a former Baptist minister and former congressman, to be Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. However, the Senate failed to hold a hearing on his nomination which was being blocked by North Carolina Senator Tedd Budd who defeated Walker in the 2022 Republican primary for U.S. Senate. So last January, Walker withdrew his name from consideration for the ambassadorship and instead accepted an appointment by President Trump as Principal Advisor on Global Religious Freedom to the State Department. His term in that position expired last month.

Monday, May 11, 2026

Nebraska Supreme Court Rules on Non-Custodial Parent's Right To Influence Children's Religious Upbringing

In Munsell v. Munsell, (NE Sup. Ct., May 8, 2026), the Nebraska Supreme Court modified a trial court's divorce decree in a dispute over who could decide whether the divorced couple's children would attend a church camp. The trial court's decree had allowed the mother (Libby) who had sole custody to prevent the father (Jacob) from enrolling the children in church camp during his parenting time. The Nebraska Supreme Court disagreed. The court said in part:

Jacob and Libby were raised in the same religion as that of the church Jacob currently attends. Jacob testified the church follows the tenet that women should be “subservient” to men and that the church should be led by men. During their marriage, the parties and the children attended the church. However, Libby testified that she “left the church” about 5 months before filing for divorce, no longer agreed with some of the church’s teachings, and did not like that ... wom[e]n were silenced and subjugated.” She also testified that she did not like the “culture of fear and shame that the church brings on”....

Jacob’s parents live on the church camp’s property as care takers. Jacob testified the church camp was a “huge part” of his life....

As this appeal illustrates, the state-law right of a legal custodian to make fundamental decisions about a child’s educational and religious upbringing can conflict with the non-custodial parent’s fundamental right to influence the religious upbringing of the child during his or her parenting time. The U.S. Supreme Court has not weighed in on the difficult question of how to properly balance these conflicting rights in the context of divorce proceedings....

... [I]in our de novo review, we see an absence of evidence that allowing the children to attend the church camp would pose “an immediate and substantial threat to a child’s temporal well-being.”...

Accordingly, we see no basis to restrict Jacob’s ability to enroll the children in the church camp during his parenting time.

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Released-Time Provider Sues School District After Termination For Facebook Posting

Suit was filed last week in a Georgia federal district court by a Christian ministry-- Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center-- that has offered released time off-campus religious instruction for students attending Vidalia, Georgia High School. School officials canceled the released time program because of Facebook posts by Sweet Onion's executive director which criticized a proposed property tax increase for the city's schools. The complaint (full text) in Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center, Inc. v. Youmans, (SD GA, filed 5/8/2026), alleges that the cancellation violates the 1st and 14th Amendments as well as the Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The complaint reads in part:

2.... After learning about the posts, Superintendent Reid secretly investigated the Center and learned an unremarkable fact—the Center, a Christian ministry, provides Christian education. This led her to report to the Board that, in addition to the problems with the Facebook posts, Rev. Youmans’ instruction “reflected a particular interpretation of the Bible” that wasn’t presented in a “neutral or well-balanced manner.” Either way, Defendants punished Rev. Youman, his ministry, and the students at Vidalia High simply because Defendants disagreed with Rev. Youman’s constitutionally protected expression.

3. Under the First Amendment, Rev. Youmans had a clearly established right both to criticize a proposed tax increase and to teach the Bible from his religious perspective. By punishing him and his ministry for his criticism and religious instruction, the Board and Superintendent Reid violated that right....

ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Friday, May 08, 2026

9th Circuit: Requested Religious Exemptions from Vaccine Mandate Would Have Imposed Undue Hardship

In Williams v. Legacy Health, (9th Cir., May 6, 2026), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a hospital system's refusal to grant religious exemptions from its Covid vaccine mandate to Vancouver, Washington hospital employees whose duties put them in close contact with patients or staff. The court upheld the dismissal of plaintiffs' Title VII religious discrimination claims. It concluded that granting the requested religious exemptions would have imposed "undue hardship" on Legacy Health. The court said in part:

At the time it denied Employees’ exemption requests, Legacy forecast an acute strain on its business of providing safe and effective medical care to the public. The COVID-19 Delta variant had just emerged, and Legacy predicted a surge of hospitalizations across its eight locations. In that context, Legacy reasonably sought to ensure that its employees were vaccinated. The statistical evidence available to Legacy revealed that high vaccination rates, while not a panacea, reduced overall transmission risk. Vaccination also proved highly effective at preventing infection in the healthcare setting, where other measures like social distancing were impractical or “impossible,” as one expert explained. By contrast, Legacy’s unrebutted epidemiological expert evidence showed that unvaccinated “frontline workers,” like Employees, faced a unique risk of infection—and that any infections could contribute to “significant outbreaks among patients [and] colleagues.”

Vital Law reports on the decision.

Tribes Sue to Stop Drilling in Black Hills

Nine Native American tribes located in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska have filed suit in a South Dakota federal district court challenging the federal government's approval of extensive drilling for graphite, with attendant ground-disturbing operations, in Black Hills National Forest. The complaint (full text) in Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Forest Service, (D SD, filed 4/30/2026), alleges in part:

5. Before approving the Project, the USFS failed to engage in meaningful, mutual, and legally required government-to-government consultation with Plaintiff Tribes, as required by federal law,....

7. The USFS categorically excluded the Project from the proper environmental, public, and cultural resources review required by NEPA....

21. Plaintiff Tribes consider Pe’Sla to be one of the most precious sacred sites in the heart of Ȟe Sápa. It is in the middle of the place where Plaintiff Tribes originated, and it is central to their existence. Pe’Sla is home to hundreds of cultural properties and numerous historic sites, archeological sites, cultural sites, and Traditional Cultural Properties ....

28. Plaintiff Tribes and their members use and value the lands at Pe’Sla for traditional, cultural, and religious purposes, including prayer, ceremonies, cultural activities, and traditional youth camps....

60. The Project will disturb and harm historic, archaeological, and cultural sites at Ȟe Sápa and Pe’Sla, the lands, water, natural resources, and fish and wildlife at Ȟe Sápa and Pe’Sla,and the Plaintiff Tribe’s traditional, cultural, and religious use of Ȟe Sápa and Pe’Sla....

AP reports on the lawsuit.

Thursday, May 07, 2026

Today Is National Day of Prayer

36 US Code §119 provides that "The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer...." Consistent with that, the non-governmental National Day of Prayer Task Force is promoting today as the National Day of Prayer. However, yesterday (Wednesday) the White House posted a "Presidential Message on National Day of Prayer" (full text) suggesting that yesterday was the National Day of Prayer. The Message, dated May 6, says in part:

This National Day of Prayer, we proudly recommit to our magnificent birthright of faith. I encourage all Americans to come together today in prayer, reflecting on the many blessings God has given our Nation and asking for His continued protection, with ceremonies, events, and programs in their houses of worship and places of work, schools, and homes.

The Message also says in part:

Today, faith in God is resurging on American shores like never before. Throughout this historic year, we rejoice in the triumph of the American spirit and in the love and grace of Almighty God. And just as our Founders came together in prayer before declaring independence, thousands of Americans will gather on Sunday, May 17, on the National Mall to rededicate the United States as One Nation Under God.

Norway's Supreme Court Upholds Jehovah's Witnesses State Registration and Funding

Last week, the Supreme Court of Norway in State v. Jehovah's Witnesses, (Høyesterett, April 29, 2026), invalidated decisions of government officials that denied state funding and registration as a religious community to Jehovah's Witnesses. The Court also issued a press release summarizing the decision. The press release reads in part:

The State argued that the religious community’s practice of social shunning violates children’s rights and members’ right to freely withdraw from membership, see section 6 of the Religious Communities Act and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)....

As regards children’s rights, the Supreme Court unanimously found that the State had not provided sufficient evidence that, in practice, Jehovah’s Witnesses subject minor members to psychological violence or negative social control of such severity as to constitute a violation of children’s statutory rights....

The Supreme Court further considered whether the practice of social shunning of former members violates members’ right to freely withdraw from the religious community. The Court held that Jehovah’s Witnesses satisfy the requirement of free and unconditional withdrawal under section 2 of the Religious Communities Act. A majority of three justices found that the shunning practice does not constitute undue pressure on members in breach of Article 9 of the ECHR. Particular weight was attached to the fact that the practice is rooted in the community’s doctrine, is known to members upon joining, and entails no direct pressure, coercion, or threats....

Two justices dissented on the question of whether Jehovah’s Witnesses subject their members to undue pressure against withdrawing from membership....

The Centre for Law and Religious Freedom at Jagiellonian University issued a press release announcing the decision and linking to an amicus brief it and the Religious Freedom Clinic at Harvard Law School filed in the case.

[Thanks to Josh McDaniel for the lead.]

ADL Releases 2025 Antisemitism Data

The Anti-Defamation League yesterday released its Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2025. The Audit reported in part:

The year 2025 was the third-highest year on record for antisemitic incidents since the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) began tracking them in 1979.

Each year, the ADL tracks incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and physical assault in the United States in our annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. While incidents of harassment and vandalism decreased significantly in 2025 from record highs in 2023 and 2024, physical assaults this past year were higher than ever before. In 2025, there was an average of 17 incidents per day, compared to an average of eight incidents per day between 2020 and 2022....

In 2025, ADL tracked 6,274 antisemitic incidents in the United States. This was 33% lower than the 9,354 incidents tabulated in 2024, but five times higher than a decade ago....

In 2025, three people were killed in antisemitic attacks....

Wednesday, May 06, 2026

President Declares May As Jewish American Heritage Month

On Monday, President Trump issued a Proclamation (full text) declaring May as Jewish American Heritage Month. The Proclamation reads in part:

Throughout this historic year, we rejoice in the triumph of the American spirit and rededicate ourselves to the cause of liberty and justice for all. In special honor of 250 glorious years of American independence and on the weekend of Rededicate 250 — a national jubilee of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving — Jewish Americans are encouraged to observe a national Sabbath. From sundown on May 15 to nightfall on May 16, friends, families, and communities of all backgrounds may come together in gratitude for our great Nation. This day will recognize the sacred Jewish tradition of setting aside time for rest, reflection, and gratitude to the Almighty.

This month, we celebrate the contributions that Jewish Americans have made to our way of life, we honor their role in shaping the story of our Nation, and we remember that religious devotion, learning, and service to others are enduring pillars of a thriving culture....

ED Says Smith College Should Lose Title IX Exception for Single-Sex Colleges Because It Admits "Biological Men"

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced on Monday that it has opened a Title IX sex-discrimination investigation of Smith College for admitting transgender women to the all-women's school. The DOE announcement said in part:

Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation into Smith College, one of the nation’s largest all-women's colleges, for admitting biological men and granting them access to women-only spaces, including dormitories, bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams....

Title IX contains a single-sex exception that allows colleges to enroll all-male or all-female student bodies—but the exception applies on the basis of biological sex difference, not subjective gender identity. An all-girls college that enrolls male students professing a female identity would cease to qualify as single sex under Title IX.

When an institution holds itself out as being an all-women’s college, it is not just promising to deliver female-only dorms and bathrooms, and single-sex athletics; it is also committing to maintain a student body that makes possible a particular form of sorority and camaraderie....

The investigation stems from a civil rights complaint filed last year by the advocacy organization Defending Education. Politico reports on the Department's action.

Prosecution Need Not Refer to Defendant by His Religious Name During His Criminal Trial

In United States v. Green, (WD VA, May 4, 2026), defendant was charged with failing to update his sex offender registration. In a pretrial motion, defendant asked that he be referred to by his Hebrew Israelite religious name--Dalayah Yashar’Al-- during his upcoming trial. Defendant contended that the failure to do so would violate his 1st Amendment free exercise rights as well as his rights under RFRA. The court said in part:

Defendant may refer to himself as Mr. Yashar’Al throughout the upcoming trial. But the court and the government need not do so. Even assuming Defendant has legally changed his name under Michigan common law, the name “Deon Green” may appear in records necessary to prove the government’s case. A categorical prohibition on the court or the government from using the name “Deon Andre Green” risks confusing and misleading the jury....

... Defendant offers no argument that the court and the government’s use of his birth name in court will pressure him to modify his beliefs or to choose between his beliefs and a government benefit....

... Moreover, the government’s inclusion of Defendant’s preferred name in the indictment is an adequate religious accommodation....

... [T]o avoid confusion, the court will instruct the jury that Defendant—born Deon Green—has adopted the name Dalayah Yashar’Al, and that the two names refer to the same person....