FBI Releases 2023 Hate Crime Statistics

Last Monday, the FBI released Hate Crime Statistics for the United States for 2023. A Department of Justice release summarizes the data, and a table released by the FBI shows greater detail. There were 11,862 hate crime incidents in total reported for the year, of which 22.5% (2699 incidents) were crimes motivated by religion. Of the religion-motivated crimes, 1,832 were anti-Jewish.  The next largest numbers motivated by one of the 11 specific religions reported were 236 anti-Muslim, 156 anti-Sikh and 77 anti-Catholic. The total number of hate crimes reported reflects a 2% rise from the 11,634 incidents reported for 2022. The number of religiously-motivated hate crimes reflects a 32% rise from the 2,042 incidents reported for 2022. Anti-Jewish hate crimes rose 63% from the 1,122 incidents reported in 2022. (See prior posting.)

Court Refuses to Stay Discovery in Gay Teacher's Title VII Suit Against Catholic School

In Califano v. Toman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, (ED NY, Sept. 24, 2024), a New York federal district court refused to stay discovery in a Title VII sex discrimination suit brought by an openly gay math and English teacher at a Catholic elementary school. The court said in part:

... [A]t the motion to dismiss stage, “a [p]laintiff only has a minimal burden of alleging facts suggesting an inference of discriminatory motivation.”...

Plaintiff has plainly satisfied this standard.  Here, Plaintiff never received any criticisms about his job performance.  Instead, the Complaint alleges he was terminated based exclusively on his sexual preference after Defendants saw a social media post of him kissing his partner— another male.  More importantly, there is direct evidence for the termination: Defendants’ own personnel alluded to his homosexuality as a reason for the termination....

... [T]he question of application of the ministerial exception is fact specific.  That said, resolution on a motion to dismiss would be inappropriate....

... Plaintiff’s duties are not as intertwined with religious doctrine.  He was not a rabbi, priest, or member of the clergy with formal doctrinal training.  Therefore, deciding his Title VII claim would not impinge on the church autonomy doctrine and Defendants’ defense fails.  And here, Defendants fail to point to demonstrate that they would have fired Plaintiff even in spite of his identifying as a homosexual male....  

Although the ministerial and church autonomy doctrines appear to be inapplicable to Plaintiff’s claim, at the very least, discovery is necessary to proceed with this case--namely to discern whether the exceptions even apply to Plaintiff’s role as a Math and English teacher here.

New Ukrainian Law Targets Ukrainian Orthodox Church for Ties to Russia

Forum 18 reports that Ukraine's Law No. 3894-IX (full text in Ukrainian) signed into law on August 24 came into force on Monday. According to the report:

The Law bans the Russian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate (ROC) for its justification and proactive support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Law identifies the ROC as a part of the Russian state and an accomplice, a partner in the war crimes committed by the Russian regime. It also establishes a legal mechanism to liquidate Ukrainian religious organisations which are either affiliated with the ROC, or affiliated with a religious organisation affiliated with the ROC. Affiliations with other Russian religions supporting the Russian aggression against Ukraine are also prohibited. The language of the Law – especially the criteria defining ROC affiliation ¬– makes it clear that the main target is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

EEOC Rules on Accommodating Abortions and Barring Transgender Discrimination Burden Religious Exercise of Catholic Diocese

In Catholic Benefits Association v. Burrows, (D ND, Sept. 23, 2024), a North Dakota Catholic diocese and a Catholic organization supporting Catholic employers challenged rules of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission promulgated under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, as well as Enforcement Guidance issued by the agency relating to discrimination on the basis of gender identity.  In the case, a North Dakota federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring the EEOC from enforcing against plaintiffs requirements that they accommodate employees' abortions or infertility treatments that are contrary to the Catholic faith. It also enjoined the EEOC from enforcing anti-harassment provisions in a way that would require plaintiffs to speak or refrain from speaking in favor of abortion, fertility treatments, or gender transition when such is contrary to the Catholic faith; require plaintiffs to use pronouns inconsistent with a person's biological sex; or allow person to use private spaces reserved for the opposite sex. The court said in part:

It is a precarious time for people of religious faith in America. It has been described as a post-Christian age.... One indication of this dire assessment may be the repeated illegal and unconstitutional administrative actions against one of the founding principles of our country, the free exercise of religion.  

The current suit falls into a long line of cases that should be unnecessary in a country that was built on the concept of freedom of religion. Unfortunately, these cases are essential for faithful individuals where government mandates run counter to core religious beliefs. One would think after all this litigation, the government would respect the boundaries of religious freedom. Instead, it seems the goal may be to find new ways to infringe on religious believers’ fundamental rights to the exercise of their religions....

The CBA has detailed its sincerely held beliefs about human sexuality and procreation.... This belief includes a witness that these actions are immoral.... At the very least its actions would violate the retaliation provision because the employee would be fired for violating the Catholic faith by asking for an accommodation for the conduct at issue here. Because the interpretations of PWFA and Title VII threaten litigation for adhering to sincerely held beliefs, these guidelines and the underlying statutes place a substantial burden on the exercise of religion.

News From the States reports on the decision. [Thanks to several readers for the lead.] 

State RFRA Bars Taxpayer Suit Challenging Church's Property Tax Exemption

 In In re Calvary Chapel Iowa, (IA Adm. Hearings Div., Sept. 17, 2024), an Iowa Administrative Law Judge held that the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects churches from taxpayer suits challenging their property tax exemptions.  The ALJ said in part:

The issue in this case is whether as a matter of statutory (not constitutional) law individuals can use the taxpayer-standing provision of Iowa Code section 427.1 to force a religious organization into litigation and spend the time and resources to prove its entitled to its property-tax exemption already claimed by it.  Prior to the enactment of the Iowa Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) the answer was an unequivocal yes (with individuals having done precisely this for at least a generation); however, with the passage of RFRA, the answer now appears to be no at least under the circumstances of this case. 

As discussed below, this is because this type of litigation imposes a substantial burden on the exercise of religion and because the State’s compelling interest in the appropriate administration of tax law can be met with the lesser restrictive means of having the State (with its constitutional and statutory constraints) enforce tax law.  To hold otherwise would be to allow the unaccountable political opponents of a church the option to use the power of the State to target and/or retaliate against the religious organization for the organization’s activities, thereby creating a chilling effect not only on that specific religious group but also all other similarly oriented religious organizations.  This is precisely the type of religious interference that RFRA was designed to prevent, and until the judiciary provides different guidance on the scope of RFRA, this case must be dismissed.

Christian Post reports on the decision.

10th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments in Fraud Suit Against LDS Church

Yesterday, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments (audio of full arguments) in Gaddy v. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In the case, a Utah federal district court dismissed a Second Amended Complaint in a class action lawsuit brought by former members of the LDS Church. The suit alleged that the Church has fraudulently misrepresented its founding to its members while its leaders did not have a sincere religious belief in the narrative. It also alleged that the Church made fraudulent misrepresentations about the use of money received from members' tithing. (See prior posting.) Courthouse News Service reports at greater length on the oral arguments.

Missouri Supreme Court Issues Opinions Supporting Prior Order on Abortion Ballot Measure

As previously reported, on September 14 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri's Right to Reproductive Freedom amendment must appear on the November ballot, reversing a decision by a trial court. It indicated that opinions supporting its order would follow. Now the Court has filed those opinions.  In Coleman v. Ashcroft, (MO Sup. Ct., Sept. 20, 2024), the Missouri Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision held that petitions proposing a state constitutional amendment only need to identify existing sections of the state constitution that are inconsistent and irreconcilable with the proposed amendment. Petitions need not identify all statutes that might later be declared invalid if the proposed amendment is approved. The court also held that the proposed amendment does not violate the state constitution's single subject requirement.

Judge Powell issued a concurring opinion.  Judge Broniec, joined by Judges Fischer and Gooch, filed a dissenting opinion contending that Missouri law also requires petitions to list existing statutes that would be in direct conflict with the proposed constitutional amendment.

6th Circuit Rules on Christian Plaintiffs' Standing to Challenge Michigan's Civil Rights Acts

In Christian Healthcare Centers, Inc. v. Nessel, (6th Cir., Sept. 20, 2024), a Christian membership-based medical service ministry and two Catholic K-12 schools challenged prohibitions on sexual orientation and gender-identity discrimination under Michigan's public accommodation law (EAA) and its Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals found that plaintiffs had standing to seek an injunction only as to some of their challenges. The court summarized its holding:

In these three related cases, Plaintiffs allege that Michigan’s laws chill their speech and conduct in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.  The district court dismissed each case for want of standing, reasoning that no Plaintiff had shown that Michigan’s laws arguably proscribed its speech or conduct and that, in the alternative, there was no credible threat that Michigan would enforce its laws against any Plaintiff.

We agree only in part....

We express no view regarding the merits of any claim, the appropriate resolution on remand of the motions for preliminary relief, or what conclusions might be warranted concerning any issue after discovery.  We hold only that (a) no Plaintiff has established standing to challenge the EAA, (b) Christian Healthcare has plausibly established standing to challenge the ELCRA’s public-accommodation provision, employment provision, and the publication clauses of each provision, (c) Sacred Heart has plausibly established standing to challenge the same provisions, the ELCRA’s education provision, and the publication clause of that provision, and (d) St. Joseph has failed to plausibly establish standing.

Judge Murphy filed a concurring opinion.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Mark Satta, Same-Sex Wedding Service Refusals and Obergefell's "Decent and Honorable" Dicta, (Wayne State University Law School Research Paper (forthcoming)).
• Thomas Charles Berg, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age: Introduction, (in Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age, (Eerdmans Publishing 2023)).
• P. Saliya Sumanatilake, Might Buddhist Tenets Be Shown to Have Founded or Substantially Influenced Any Doctrine of Western Jurisprudence?, (August 19, 2023).
• Rabea Benhalim, Agreeing to Disagree: Abortion Jurisprudence in Jewish and Islamic Law, (B.Y.U. L. Rev.____ (2025) (forthcoming)).
• Jeremy Rovinsky, We Should Meat: A Reply To Professor Siddhanth Prasad, (10 J. Global Just. & Pub. Pol. 34, 2024).
• Andrew Hull, Caste Discrimination and the Imperfect Promise of Labor Arbitration, (31 Asian American Law Journal (Forthcoming)).
• Nicolas Garon, Veiling Laws Throughout Iranian History: The Relationship to Religion, Before and During Islamic Law, (August 22, 2022).
• Nisar Muarrah, A Comparative Analysis of Rehabilitation Principles in Islamic and Western Criminal Justice Systems, (June 20, 2024).
• James M. Oleske, Jr., Law Office History and the Unrelenting Attack on Public Accommodations Law, (32 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 959 (2024)).

From SmartCILP:

• Symposium, Law vs. Antisemitism, Lewis & Clark Law Review, Volume 27, Number 4, 2024.

Kentucky Governor Issues Executive Order Limiting Conversion Therapy for Minors

 After attempts to get the Kentucky state legislature to ban conversion therapy for minors failed, on Wednesday Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued Executive Order 2024-632 (full text) which uses executive powers available to him to limit the practice. The Executive Order provides in part:

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall take all actions necessary to prohibit the direct or indirect use of state and federal funds for the practice of conversion therapy on minors, referring a minor for conversion therapy, or extending health benefits coverage for conversion therapy with a minor....

Any state agency that discovers or receives a report that a provider certified or licensed to practice in Kentucky engages in conversion therapy efforts with a person under 18 years of age or performs counseling on conversion therapy as part of his training for any profession licensed under a professional certification or licensing board within the Commonwealth of Kentucky shall report that provider to the appropriate professional certification or licensing board within the Commonwealth for potential disciplinary action....

The Governor's office issued a press release announcing the signing of the Executive Order. AP reports on the Executive Order. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Supreme Court Review Sought for NY Health Insurance Abortion Coverage Mandate

 A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed yesterday with the U.S. Supreme Court in Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Harris, (Sup. Ct., filed 9/18/24). In the case New York's highest appellate court rejected a claim that the "religious employer" exemption to the state's requirement that health insurance policies cover medically necessary abortion services is too narrow.  The exemption is only available to entities whose purpose is to inculcate religious values and that primarily employ and serve persons who share their religious tenets. Plaintiffs, which are religiously affiliated entities, contend that their free exercise rights are infringed because they do not meet the criteria for the exemption. (See prior posting.) Becket Fund issued a press release announcing the filing of the petition for review.

European Court Says Spain Violated Rights of Jehovah's Witness in Authorizing Blood Transfusion

In Case of Pindo Mulla v. Spain, (ECHR, Sept. 17, 2024), the European Court of Human Rights held that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights was violated by Spanish courts when they authorized a blood transfusion for a critically ill woman who, because of her beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness, had refused all blood transfusions. The court said in part:

181.  The Court fully appreciates that the actions taken in relation to the applicant on the day in question by the staff of both hospitals were motivated by the overriding concern to ensure the effective treatment of a patient who was under their care, in keeping with the most fundamental norm of the medical profession. It does not question their assessments regarding the severity of the applicant’s condition at the time, the urgency of the need to treat her, the medical options available in the circumstances, or that the applicant’s life was saved that day.

182.  However, the authorisation by the duty judge to proceed with whatever treatment was considered necessary resulted from a decision-making process that was affected by the omission of essential information about the documenting of the applicant’s wishes, which had been recorded in various forms and at various times in writing. Since neither the applicant nor anyone connected with her was aware of the decision taken by the duty judge, it was not possible, even in theory, to make good that omission. Neither this issue, nor the issue of her capacity to take a decision, were addressed in an adequate manner in the subsequent proceedings. In light of this, it cannot be said that the domestic system adequately responded to the applicant’s complaint that her wishes had been wrongly overruled....

183.  In the Court’s view, the shortcomings identified above ... indicate that the interference complained of was the result of a decision-making process which, as it operated in this case, did not afford sufficient respect for the applicant’s autonomy as protected by Article 8, which autonomy she wished to exercise in order to observe an important teaching of her religion.

Eight of the 17 judges dissented as to the damages awarded by the majority. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

10th Circuit: Jail Violated Free Speech Rights of Volunteer Minister

In Jarrard v. Sheriff of Polk County, (11th Cir., Sept. 16, 2024), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Georgia jail officials violated the free speech rights of a volunteer county jail minister. Irritating both jail officials and other volunteer jail ministers, Rev. Jarrard believed and taught that baptism by immersion is necessary to salvation and that, without it, a person will be condemned to Hell. Policies governing participation as a volunteer minister went through a number of revisions. Ultimately, they resulted in Jarred being excluded from the program and baptism of inmates being prohibited. The court said in part:

At least for summary-judgment purposes, therefore, we conclude that Moats and Sharp engaged in viewpoint discrimination based on their disagreement with Jarrard’s beliefs about baptism.  We further conclude that their disapproval of his volunteer ministry application can’t survive strict scrutiny.  ...Moats and Sharp assert that they denied Jarrard’s applications for fear that his participation in the volunteer ministry program would “(1) tend to undercut inmate well-being and (2) unreasonably create problems for jail administrators.”  Even if we were to indulge those assertions ...  and even assuming that they constitute compelling governmental interests, denying Jarrard’s application was not the least restrictive means of achieving those ends.  As just one example, the Jail could have posted notices stating that Jarrard would be addressing a potentially contentious topic and let the inmates decide whether they wanted to attend....  So too, they could have allowed other volunteer ministers to opt out of working with Jarrard so as to reduce the risk of contentious interactions.  And to the extent that they were worried about security issues related to the performance of baptisms, they could have instituted precautions to minimize them.  They could, for instance, have limited attendance at an inmate’s baptism or required an inmate being baptized to be shackled throughout the process to reduce risk of escape.  There is no indication that Moats and Sharp attempted to take any such (or other similar) steps.....

The court also found that two versions of the policy gave jail administrators unbridled discretion in passing on volunteer ministers' applications. 

 Judge Rosenbaum filed an opinion dissenting in part, contending that insofar as damages were sought from the sheriff and his chief deputy, they were protected by qualified immunity.

Jewish Students Sue Haverford College Alleging Title VI Violations

Suit was filed last week in a Pennsylvania federal district court by Jewish students as Haverford College alleging that the college has violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by discriminatory application of its nondiscrimination policy and willful failure to enforce its nondiscrimination policy to protect Jewish students. The complaint also alleges breach of contract. The complaint (full text) in Jews at Haverford v. The Corporation of Haverford College, (ED PA, filed 5/13/2024), alleges in part:

Haverford has become an illiberal institution fixated on appeasing the demands of anti-Israel students and faculty.  Haverford refuses to tolerate ideas about Israel that are at odds with its new political orthodoxy—in particular, the Jewish people’s ethnic, historical, shared ancestral and religious claims to their ancestral homeland in Israel.  This intolerance is enforced through shunning of Jewish students committed to the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state, and through the lauding and accepting of antisemitic student demands by Haverford’s President Wendy Raymond and her administration....

Haverford has violated Title VI by failing to protect the rights of Jewish Haverford students to participate fully in college classes, programs, and activities, without fear of harassment if they express beliefs about Israel that are anything less than eliminationist.  In this pervasively hostile environment, Jewish students hide their beliefs, as well as their attendance at religious services or even secular events at which support for the existence of Israel is articulated or defended.  While Israel-hating students march across the campus chanting quotes from the terrorist group Hamas calling for Israel’s destruction—as they have done frequently and without any restraint or interference from the Administration— these Jewish students hide in their rooms, feeling unable even to go to class or to engage in any of the other activities that constitute the life of an undergraduate....

The Deborah Project has more information on the lawsuit.