President Issues Messages on Reformation Day and All Saints' Day

Last week, President Trump issued Presidential Messages focusing on two Christian holidays. On October 31, he issued a Presidential Message on Reformation Day, saying in part:

From the earliest days of our Republic, prayer and faith in Almighty God have stood as the foundation of our strength, the source of our unity, and the fount of our greatness.  This Reformation Day, I send my best wishes to the countless Christians across our country commemorating the Protestant Reformation and its enduring message of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.....

Guided by an unwavering faith in Jesus Christ, my Administration is working to restore the moral and religious foundations that have sustained our Republic for generations.  As President, I will always support citizens of faith and defend their place in the public square, honoring the enduring role of our churches in strengthening families, serving communities, and preserving the core values that have anchored us across the centuries....

On November 1, he issued a Presidential Message on All Saints' Day, saying in part:

On All Saints’ Day, I join Christians across our Nation in honoring the men and women through the centuries whose extraordinary lives of faithfulness reveal the great goodness and love to which human beings can aspire.

Every generation of Americans has understood the profound power of the example of a heroic and holy life, which is why the names of saints are so interwoven throughout the American landscape....  From Santa Monica, California, to St. Augustine, Florida, saints greet us on maps and road signs across the country.

Saints are just as present in the institutions we know and trust.  Families turn to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital when a child is gravely ill.  Young Americans study at Saint John’s University, Saint Louis University....

Even our professional sports carry this legacy.  When New Orleans received its National Football League franchise on November 1, 1966, the date was no accident:  It was All Saints’ Day.  A local businessman championed the name “Saints,” inspired by the city’s celebrated jazz anthem, “When the Saints Go Marching In.”...

In the United States, we especially honor Saint Junípero Serra, who carried the Christian faith through the missions of California; Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, who helped build Catholic education in America; Saint Katharine Drexel, who devoted her fortune and her life to educating and serving poor and impoverished communities; and Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, who established schools, orphanages, and hospitals, putting Christian charity into action and bringing the hope of Jesus to those most in need....

All Saints’ Day proclaims a truth at the heart of the Christian faith:  Death does not have the final word.  Christians believe that through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the grave has been conquered and eternal life has been opened to all who believe in Him.  The saints are witnesses to that promise....

9th Circuit Allows Enforcement of Idaho's Near-Total Abortion Ban While Apppeal On Health-Threating Abortions Moves Forward

As previously reported, in August an Idaho federal district court held that the right to a health-preserving abortion is protected by the Due Process Clause. It also held that Idaho may not criminalize abortions that are necessary to prevent the death of a pregnant woman from self-harm. The district court narrowed its injunction enforcing this holding while an appeal is pending so that enforcement of Idaho's abortion law was only prohibited against the plaintiff in the case until appellate courts ruled. Idaho's attorney general however appealed to the 9th Circuit asking for a stay of this narrowed injunction.

In Seyb v. Members of the Idaho Board of Medicine, (9th Cir., Oct. 30, 2026), the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision stayed the district court's injunction while an appeal moves forward, thus allowing enforcement against anyone of Idaho's broad abortion ban containing only rape, incest and life-of-the-mother exceptions, while the appeal is heard. The majority opinion said in part:

Defendants have made a strong showing of likely success on the merits.  The district court reviewed the history and tradition concerning abortions and concluded that “legal tradition has consistently shielded health-preserving abortions from prosecution.”  However, the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ... plowed the same ground and held that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.”...  We think it unlikely that Dr. Seyb will be able to square the district court’s perspective on the history and tradition concerning abortions with the Supreme Court’s perspective in Dobbs....

Defendants’ showings of likelihood of success and irreparable injury are even stronger where the proffered reason for the abortion is the possibility of the woman committing suicide.  There are other methods for preventing suicide, and Idaho’s “profound interest” in preserving fetal life reasonably supports the use of those means over the termination of pregnancy....

Judge Wardlaw filed a concurring opinion, saying in part:

...  Dobbs excoriated the reasoning of Roe and Casey and explicitly overruled them, thus closing the door on finding any constitutional right to an abortion—particularly one as vague and ill-defined as the right pressed here....

Judge Berzon dissented, saying that Dobbs dealt only with abortion-on-demand, and not with abortions to save a mother's life or health. He said in part:

I cannot read Dobbs’s pronouncement that “Roe and Casey must be overruled” as all-comprehensive..., and so as reaching the separate Roe/Casey ruling regarding abortions performed to preserve the life or health of the mother. Were that so, Dobbs would have overruled Roe and Casey even for abortions necessary to preserve the life of the woman....

Dobbs did establish the required methodology — history and tradition. The panel majority does not conduct any such inquiry. The majority regards Dobbs as having decided — without any separate history-and-tradition inquiry — that health-preserving abortions trigger no heightened constitutional protection....

There is a second, independent reason why I would not grant a stay of the district court’s injunction: Idaho has not shown it will be irreparably injured during the pendency of this appeal....

ADF issued a press release announcing the decision.

Statewide Ballot Measures of Interest in Tuesday's Election

A number of statewide ballot measures will face voters on Tuesday, November 3. The following may be of particular interest to Religion Clause readers:

• Alabama Amendment 3: Require Pledge of Allegiance and Allow Student-Led Prayer in Public Schools Amendment.
• Idaho Proposition 1: Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act Initiative.
• Missouri Amendment 3: Prohibit Abortion and Gender Transition Procedures for Minors Amendment.
• Nevada Question 6: Right to Abortion Initiative.
• Vermont Proposal 4. Equal Protection of Law Amendment.
• Virginia Question 1: Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
• Virginia Question 2: Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.
• Wisconsin Question 2: Prohibit Government Closure of Places of Worship During Emergencies Amendment.

Ballotpedia has a full listing of items on state ballots.

12 Indicted for Threats Aimed at Forcing University of Michigan to Sever Ties with Israel

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced yesterday that a 64-page superseding indictment (full text) has been unsealed, now charging 12 defendants with conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, as well as witness tampering. Defendants used vandalism and intimidation against their targets. According to the indictment:

The defendants are a group of individuals associated with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After the October 7,2023, Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, the defendants and unindicted conspirators orchestrated detailed plans to threaten University of Michigan leaders, law enforcement, and businesses with coordinated criminal acts. Their goal included forcing the University of Michigan and other businesses to sever all perceived ties with the State of Israel.

To accomplish this goal, the defendants and their unindicted conspirators ... used encrypted messages, social media, and overseas collaboration platforms to research, target, and attack their victims. Then, they posted pictures of their attacks on social media, along with additional threats and warnings. Their criminal activity included spray painting threats, breaking windows, and throwing glass jars filled with noxious chemicals into family homes. They marked their victims with threatening symbols used by Hamas, including red inverted triangles and red handprints. They used the internet and social media to broadcast their message to ensure their threats and commitment to continuing criminal activity were heard by their victims and others who support Israel....

From approximately October 2023 through and including April 2025, the defendants and unindicted conspirators targeted individuals and businesses in the Eastern District of Michigan and elsewhere, including: The University of Michigan's President, Chief Investment Officer, Provost, and members of the Board of Regents and their businesses; a University of Michigan police officer; Rolls Royce Solutions America, Inc.; Maersk, Inc.; and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit....

JNS reports on the indictment.

Suit Contends That Vermont's Limits on Tuition Reimbursement Violate 1st and 14th Amendments

Suit was filed this week in a Vermont federal district court alleging that Vermont's Act 73, enacted last year, while apparently neutral is in fact a disguised attempt to exclude religious schools from the state's Town Tuition and Dual Enrollment programs. Prior 2nd Circuit decisions had held that explicit exclusion of religious schools from these programs was unconstitutional. The complaint (full text) in Bishop v. Saunders, (D VT, filed 10/27/2026), alleges in part:

6. Eligibility for Dual Enrollment is contingent on Town Tuition: a student must either be in a public school or receiving Town Tuition funding at a private school to be eligible....

15. Section 21 of Act 73 excludes all religious schools through more subtle, yet no less unconstitutional, criteria that create a religious gerrymander....

17. Under Act 73, to be eligible for Town Tuition, some—but not all— private schools must: (1) be located in a school district ... that does not operate a public school; (2) have had at least 25% of its enrollment composed of publicly funded students during the 2023–2024 school year; and (3) comply with minimum class-size requirements regardless of school size. 

18. Together, these three requirements create a de facto religious exclusion that cuts out all religious schools from the Town Tuition Program.

The complaint alleges that Act 73 disqualified all 15 of the religious schools that were previously eligible for funding, but only 15 of the 61 secular private schools that were previously eligible. The complaint goes on to contend that Act 73 violates the Free Exercise Clause, the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause and its protection of parents' right to control the upbringing of their children.

ADF issued a press release explaining the lawsuit.

9th Circuit: Business' Free-Speech Rights Are Infringed by Ban on Mandatory Employee Meetings Promoting Religion

In California Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta, (9th Cir., Oct. 29, 2026), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a California federal district court's injunction that bars California from enforcing against businesses Senate Bill 399 which prohibits employers from threatening or taking adverse action against an employee who chooses not to attend an employer-sponsored meeting or receive employer-sponsored communications where the purpose is to communicate the employer's views on political or religious matters. The court said in part:

[T]he relevant question is whether SB 399 is a constitutionally permissible limitation on the industry groups’ free speech right....

... California, “acting as censor, undert[ook] selectively to shield the public from some kinds of speech on the ground that they are more offensive than others.”...  The Supreme Court has said that “[s]uch selective restrictions have been upheld only when the speaker intrudes on the privacy of the home, or the degree of captivity makes it impractical for the unwilling . . . auditor to avoid exposure.”... In such circumstances, California’s ability to limit “discourse solely to protect others from hearing it is . . . dependent upon a showing that substantial privacy interests are being invaded in an essentially intolerable manner.”... 

California fails to identify a single case where a content based restriction has been upheld because employees were deemed a captive audience or had their substantial privacy interests invaded in an essentially intolerable manner.  Instead, the State points to cases upholding speech limitations on public transit, at healthcare facilities, and on school premises, which referred to commuters, patients, and students as captive audiences....  California contends that employees are equally captive because they are economically dependent on their employer and risk losing their job, with its pay and benefits, should they refuse to listen to their employer’s speech....

California’s argument goes too far.  Both the Supreme Court and our Court have referred to “captive audiences” only when the government acts as a proprietor or in the context of content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions.  Neither court has relied on a “captive audience” theory to identify a compelling interest sufficient to uphold content-based restrictions on nongovernmental speech in a nongovernmental setting.... 

San Francisco Chronicle reports on the decision.

Humanist Teacher Sues Over Prayer at School Staff Meetings

Suit was filed this week in a Texas federal district court by a former middle school teacher who is a Humanist contending that the Texas school at which he formerly taught violated the Establishment, Free Exercise and Free Speech clauses of the First Amendment through sectarian prayer at mandatory district-wide staff meetings and in other ways. The complaint (full text) in Castillo v. Rio Hondo Independent School District. (SD TX, filed 10/28/2026), alleges in part:

13. Without giving staff any advance notice that the mandatory meetings would include religious observances, Superintendent Trevino and President Guerra took turns opening each meeting with an explicitly evangelical Christian prayer. One or the Other commenced each meeting by calling everyone present to rise. Once staff members were standing, Superintendent Trevino or President Guerra instructed them to bow their heads and join in prayer. The group prayer began immediately, with no opportunity for any staff member to excuse themselves from the room. A second prayer, also without advance notice or an opportunity to opt out, often followed later in the meeting. These prayers put staff who did not wish to participate in an untenable situation. Leaving the room once the prayers had begun, or even remaining seated, would have been conspicuous and drawn the attention of colleagues and the very employers leading the prayers. Staff members like Mr. Castillo were thus forced to choose between violating their own religious conscience and being singled out and subjected to retribution....

20. As a result of Rio Hondo ISD's failure to adequately train its leadership and its indifference to the rights and concerns of its staff, Mr. Castillo was subjected to further instances of school-sponsored Christian religious expression and denominational discrimination, beyond the nine district-wide meetings he was required to attend.

21. ... Rio Hondo Middle School prominently displayed two unsigned posters on school walls, each citing Jeremiah 29: 11 and bearing [in full or in part] the quotations "as long as God keeps waking you up He still has a Plan For you".... The posters were displayed in the same space the school ordinarily uses for announcements, rules, mottos, and other official messages....

American Humanist Association issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

School Bus Driver Distributing Religious Candy Was Not Engaged In Private Speech

In Robinson v. Mattawan Consolidated School District, (WD MI, Oct. 22, 2026), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a suit brought by a former school bus driver who was fired for repeatedly distributing candy with religious messages to students as they were exiting her bus.  The court said in part:

Plaintiff’s claim ... rests on the premise that she was engaged in “private religious expression,” “not government speech,” because her “nonverbal speech and religious expression occurred after the bus had stopped when the bus driver was a private citizen who was permitted to engage in speech on matters of faith”....  Even accepting as true the factual portion of Plaintiff’s allegations—that she “at all times” distributed candy only after stopping the school bus ...— her alleged facts do not support the legal conclusion that her conduct falls within the realm of protected “private” religious expression.... 

The operational duties of bus drivers have been evaluated in the Sixth Circuit under constitutional standards applicable to state actors, not private citizens. ...

A school bus driver does not transform from a state actor into a private citizen simply because she stopped her bus to let off a child.  Rather, the driver’s status as a public-school employee and the scope of her duties are intact throughout the stop.  Indeed, even though the bus is stationary, this phase of its operation—the loading and unloading of children—implicates significant job duties....

Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to accommodate proselytizing—“the ability to express her faith respectfully” ... The Court again assumes that proselytizing is her sincerely held religious practice....  But the Court cannot overlook the complete lack of factual content about any accommodation request.... 

AlterNet reports on the decision.

Court Again Refuses to Enjoin Ban That Prevents Rabbi from Carrying Firearm to His Synagogue

In Silver Spring Jewish Community Center v. Montgomery County, Maryland, (D MD, Oct. 27, 2026), a Maryland federal district court denied a motion to amend a prior judgment in the case or alternatively to grant an injunction pending appeal in 2nd Amendment and Free Exercise challenges to a Montgomery County firearms law. The prior decision, while enjoining enforcement of a ban on firearms in plaintiffs' synagogue, refused to enjoin a provision that prevents the synagogue's rabbi who walks to synagogue on the Sabbath for religious reasons from carrying a firearm to the synagogue. His walk takes him past other places of public assembly. If he were driving to his synagogue, the law would permit carrying a firearm in the car even if it passed close to a place of public assembly. (See prior posting.) Again rejecting plaintiffs' free exercise challenge, the court said in part:

Unlike their robust arguments about their sincerely held religious beliefs to carry a firearm within their places of worship, SSJC and Rabbi Shapiro provided much less about walking while armed through the 100-yard buffer zones to get there.... Their preliminary relief briefing ...  seems to emphasize how Jewish law obligates Rabbi Shapiro to walk to synagogue on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays but does not clearly articulate a religious mandate to do so while armed....  And in their complaint, each of the religious texts SSJC and Rabbi Shapiro provide seem to have been framed as supporting their desire to carry firearms as part of their Security Team within their place of worship, not carry firearms to such places....   

But even if the 100-yard buffers incidentally burden religion, such laws “are ordinarily not subject to strict scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause so long as they are neutral and generally applicable.”... The 100-yard buffer provision is neutral because it does not discriminate on its face—it does not mention religion....  It is also neutral because it was not enacted “because of,” but instead “in spite” its effect on religion....

The 100-yard buffer provision is also generally applicable. A law is not generally applicable if it “prohibits religious conduct while permitting secular conduct that undermines the government’s asserted interests in a similar way.”... SSJC and Rabbi Shapiro contend that the court should have evaluated the vehicle exemption ... as a comparable secular activity....  But the court did not do so because the vehicle exemption does not undermine the Code’s asserted interests “in a similar way” as non-secular carry by foot....

1st Amendment Challenges to Actor's Rape Convictions Are Rejected

In The People v. Masterson, (CA App., Oct. 27, 2026), a California state appellate court, in an 89-page opinion, affirmed the forcible rape convictions of actor Danny Masterson. In 2024, Masterson, the star of That '70's Show, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the forcible rape of two women. Both Masterson and his victims were members of the Church of Scientology. On appeal, Masterson argued in part that the trial court's admission of evidence about Scientology's teachings violated the First Amendment. The court said in part:

The trial court ruled that defendant lacked standing to assert a First Amendment violation on behalf of Scientology; but even if he had standing, admission of Scientology evidence would not violate the First Amendment, the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, or Evidence Code section 789.  The trial court found the Scientology evidence relevant to provide context for the victims’ delayed reporting of the crimes and to understand the victims’ meetings and relationships with defendant; defendant’s actions toward the victims; the victims’ actions before, during, and after the incidents; the victims’ initial acceptance of defendant’s behavior and the families’ subsequent reactions....

The trial court permitted Headley to testify as an expert “on the subjects of 1) Scientology teachings that a person in an intimate relationship cannot be raped; 2) that Scientologists cannot use the word rape and 3) that Scientologists are prohibited or discouraged from reporting other Scientologists in good standing to outside law enforcement or face repercussions for doing so....

J.B. and N.T. both testified that Scientology tenets prohibited them from reporting defendant to the police, a police report would constitute a suppressive act, and Scientology policy required them to use Scientology’s internal justice system instead.  J.B. testified that on pain of expulsion from Scientology, family members who are Scientologists must dissociate from any family member labeled as a suppressive person....

Defendant’s criminal trial did not involve adjudication of an internal church dispute over church property, church discipline, religious authority, or dogma....  The ecclesiastical abstention doctrine accordingly did not apply....

The jury in this case was not asked to determine the truth or falsity of Scientology doctrine or beliefs.  The jury instructions clearly limited the purposes for which the jury was to consider Scientology evidence—to explain the victims’ delay in reporting defendant’s actions; to explain the victims’ behavior before, during, and after the charged crimes; to explain the witnesses’ ties to Scientology....  Admission of Scientology evidence for those purposes did not contravene the First Amendment....

Defendant cites several statements by the trial court that he claims demonstrate a lack of neutrality and even hostility toward Scientology.  Those statements, viewed in context, evidence no animus or departure from neutrality regarding Scientology.....

Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

Tax Injunction Act Bars Federal Court Relief for Denial of Property Tax Exemption for Church Property

In Jordan v. Henriquez, (MD FL, Oct. 26, 2026), a Florida federal district court held that the Tax Injunction Act requires it to dismiss a suit by the Senior Pastor of a church challenging the denial of a property tax exemption for parsonage property which was rented out and whose income went back to the church. The Tax Injunction Act bars federal jurisdiction where the suit seeks to enjoin, suspend or restrain a tax assessment.  The court rejected plaintiff's argument that a determination of whether property is entitled to a religious exemption does not amount to an “assessment.” Plaintiff also alleged that the county appraiser applied more lenient standards to Catholic religious organizations than to Protestant groups.The court said in part:

... [E]ven if “assessment” in these circumstances were limited to the “official recording of taxpayer liability” as Plaintiff argues, Plaintiff’s requested relief would nevertheless enjoin, suspend, or restrain the assessment of taxes. Plaintiff asks the Court to prevent Defendant from denying any applications for religious exemptions....

Even if the Tax Injunction Act did not preclude jurisdiction in this case, Plaintiff’s claims are due to be dismissed on comity grounds. The comity doctrine is a doctrine of abstention that reflects the “belief that the National Government will fare best if the States and their institutions are left free to perform their functions in separate ways.”...

New York Catholic Archdiocese Reaches $800 Million Settlement with Sex Abuse Survivors

In an October 24 press release, attorneys for claimants who had filed sex abuse claims against the Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced:

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their attorneys have agreed to an $800 million settlement with approximately 1,300 survivors of the Archdiocese of New York. All survivors who filed claims against the Archdiocese of New York have agreed to the settlement plan....

Although the settlement plan has been agreed to, additional steps must be completed before funds can be distributed to survivors....

Reporting on the agreement, EWTN News said in part:

The settlement allows the Archdiocese of New York to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Along with the Diocese of Brooklyn, it is one of only two of New York’s eight Catholic dioceses that have not sought bankruptcy protection.

The archdiocese confirmed to EWTN News that it is still engaged in litigation with its longtime insurer Chubb, which it sued in 2024, claiming the company was “attempting to evade their legal and moral contractual obligation” to pay out claims to sex-abuse victims....

Iowa Supreme Court: Nursing Student Did Not Have Sincerely Held Religious Objection to Covid Vaccine

 In Perry v. Dordt University, (IA Sup. Ct., Oct. 23, 2026), the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed a trial court's holding that plaintiff, a Dodt University nursing student, did not have a sincerely held religious objection to the Covid vaccine. Thus, the University's refusal to grant him a religious exemption from the Covid vaccine mandate did not violate the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The court said in part:

... [W]e agree with the Fifth Circuit that “judicial inquiry into the sincerity of a person’s religious belief ‘must be handled with a light touch, or judicial shyness. shyness.’ ...  This means that the sincerity inquiry must be carefully limited to a “credibility assessment.”  It must be limited to whether the student’s claim of a religion-based objection “is honest.”... The inquiry must not spill into unconstitutional questions about whether the belief itself is religiously valid....

 As part of its sincerity analysis, the district court found that some of Andrew’s dangerous behaviors—his vaping and binge drinking—were inconsistent with Andrew’s claimed religious belief that he must reject a vaccine that he considered dangerous....

It is true that courts must not replace the sincere-belief test with a pharisaical perfect-performance test.... After all, “even the most sincere practitioner may stray from time to time.”...

As we have already mentioned, though, it is not improper for courts to consider whether the claimant’s words and deeds align with the claimant’s claimed beliefs....

Here are links to briefs in the case.  Sioux County Radio reports on the decision.