Showing posts with label Catholic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic. Show all posts

Friday, January 17, 2025

2 Reports Survey the State of Religious Liberty in the U.S. in 2024

Two broad reviews of the state of religious liberty in the United States were released yesterday. Becket Fund for Religious Liberty released the 6th edition of its Religious Freedom Index: American Perspectives on the First Amendment (full text). The 119-page report is based on an online poll of a nationally representative sample of 1000 American adults conducted by an independent research company. The report says in part:

The survey consists of 21 annually repeating questions that cover a broad range of topics, from the rights of religious people to practice their respective faiths to the role of government in protecting religious beliefs. The responses to these questions are broken down into six dimensions: 1) Religious Pluralism, 2) Religion and Policy, 3) Religious Sharing, 4) Religion in Society, 5) Church and State, and 6) Religion in Action....

 Across multiple questions in our Index, one message rings loud and clear: Americans deeply value their First Amendment freedoms, even in the face of tough, controversial issues....

We are pleased to report that political division did not seem to negatively impact Americans’ convictions about the importance of religion and religious liberty....  Americans also report being more accepting of people of faith and more appreciative of their contributions than ever before. Encouragingly, both people of faith as a whole and non-Christian people of faith reported feeling more accepted in society than in 2023.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops yesterday released its 2025 annual report on The State of Religious Liberty in the United States (full text) (Executive Summary). The 83-page Report, which reviews developments at the national level in 2024 in Congress, the Courts and the Executive Branch, says in part:

... [B]ecause control of the two chambers of Congress was divided, most bills that threatened religious liberty—that is to say, immunity from coercion in religious matters—did not move forward. Legislation aiming to increase access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) was introduced in 2024. The most significant threats to religious liberty at the federal level came in the form of finalized regulations by federal agencies, such as the Section 1557 rule, which implements the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These rules heavily focused on imposing requirements regarding abortion, sexual orientation, and gender identity....

The five areas of critical concern—threats and opportunities—for religious liberty are:

  • The targeting of faith-based immigration service
  • The persistence of elevated levels of antisemitic incidents 
  • IVF mandates, which represent a significant threat to religious freedom, while the national discussion of IVF represents an opportunity for Catholics to share Church teaching and advocate for human dignity
  • The scaling back of gender ideology in law
  •  Parental choice in education, one of the longest-running areas of concern for American Catholics

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Texas Supreme Court Hears Arguments on State Closure of Catholic Agency Serving Migrants

On January 13, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments (video of full oral arguments) in Paxton v. Annunciation House, Inc. (Links to documents and briefs in the case.) At issue is an attempt by the Texas Attorney General to shut down Annunciation House, a Catholic agency serving migrants and refugees in El Paso. The Attorney General claims that the agency is sheltering migrants who have entered the country illegally. A Texas state trial court held that Texas statutes which bar harboring migrants to induce them to stay illegally in the U.S. are pre-empted by federal law and cannot be used as the basis for a quo warranto action to revoke the agency's registration to operate in Texas. Also at issue is the state's subpoena for records of Annunciation House. (See prior posting.) Annunciation House contends that the attempt to close it down violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Reform Austin reports on the oral arguments.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Suit Challenges State Grant to Catholic College

Suit was filed this week in a West Virginia state trial court challenging a $5 million grant made by the West Virginia Water Development Authority to a Catholic college located in Ohio just across the Ohio River from West Virginia. The grant largely supports projected projects in West Virginia or the education of West Virginia students. The suit alleges that the grant violates the West Virginia state constitution's Establishment Clause.  The complaint (full text) in American Humanist Association v. West Virginia Water Development Authority, (WV Cir. Ct., filed 1/13/2025), alleges in part:

28.  Through the awarding of this grant, the State of West Virginia, through the West Virginia Water Development Authority, requires taxpayers to fund the work of this Catholic Institution, which states “the mission of St. Joseph the Worker is to serve the Church and to serve our country through providing our society with such workers.” 

29.   In so doing, the State of West Virginia has impermissibly violated the anti-establishment provision of the State Constitution guaranteeing the right to freedom of religion. 

ACLU of West Virginia issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Catholic Doctors Sue HHS Over Interpretation of EMTALA's Impact on State Abortion Bans

Suit was filed last week in a Tennessee federal district court by an organization of Catholic physicians challenging a July 2022 Memorandum and accompanying Letter from the Department of Health and Human Services that stated that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act pre-empts state abortion bans when an abortion is needed for emergency care. The complaint (full text) in Catholic Medical Association v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (MD TN, filed 1/10/2025) alleges in part:

2. The Memorandum and Letter ... exceed Defendants’ statutory authority, were promulgated without procedure required by law, and are arbitrary and capricious, all in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The Mandate also violates the rights of doctors under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the First Amendment....

169. CMA’s members exercise their religious beliefs in practicing medicine by caring for patients generally, and in caring for patients in situations subject to EMTALA. CMA’s members exercise their religious beliefs in treating pregnant women and their unborn children with respect and dignity, and in opposing involvement in the direct and intentional killing of unborn children in abortion. 

170. The Mandate substantially burdens the exercise of CMA’s members’ sincerely held religious beliefs. 

171. The Mandate imposes significant pressure on CMA’s members to practice medicine in way that would violate their beliefs because of the threat of investigations, fines, and other punishments and impairments.

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

Saturday, December 14, 2024

Supreme Court Grants Review of Wisconsin's Denial of Unemployment Comp Exemption for Catholic Charities

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor Review Commission, (Docket No. 24-154, certiorari granted 12/13/2024). (Order List). In the case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court by a vote of 4-3 held that Catholic Charities Bureau and four of its sub-entities are not entitled to an exemption from the state's unemployment compensation law. (See prior posting.) Catholic Charities' petition for certiorari asks the Supreme Court to decide if Wisconsin violated the 1st Amendment's religion clauses when it held that Catholic Charities activities are primarily charitable and secular so that the statutory religious organization exemption is not available to it. The SCOTUSblog case page has links to the pleadings and briefs filed in the case.

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Catholic Bishops, Pope Francis Call on President Biden to Commute Sentences of All Federal Death Row Prisoners to Life in Prison

According to Catholic News Agency:

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Monday launched a campaign urging Catholics to contact outgoing President Joe Biden and ask him to commute the death sentences of the 40 men currently on federal death row to life in prison.

The USCCB Action Center posted online a statement calling on individuals to urge the President to commute the sentences.  The webpage contains a suggested letter to the President and provides a form for sending and posting the request online.

Meanwhile, on Sunday in the Vatican, Pope Francis joined in the call for commutation. In his Sunday Angelus, he said in part:

Today, it comes to my heart to ask you all to pray for the prisoners who are on death row in the United States. I believe there are thirteen or fifteen of them. Let us pray that their sentence be commuted, changed. Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death.

Neither the Bishops' statement nor that of the Pope makes mention of President Biden's Roman Catholic faith.

Friday, November 15, 2024

Australia's High Court Says Diocese Is Not Vicariously Liable for Sex Abuse by Priest [Corrected]

In Bird v DP (a pseudonym) , (HCA, Nov. 13, 2024), the High Court of Australia in an appeal from the Supreme Court of Victoria held that a Catholic diocese is not vicariously liable for sexual abuse of a five-year old boy by a priest from a parish church within the diocese. Plaintiff at age 49 instituted suit for the psychological injuries he had sustained as a child by two separate sexual assaults by the priest that took place at the child's home. The majority opinion on behalf of five justices held in part:

A diocese, through the person of the bishop of that diocese, appoints priests and assistant priests to parishes within that diocese.... In 1966, Coffey was appointed by the then Bishop of Ballarat to St Patrick's parish church.... Coffey was not employed by the Diocese or engaged by the Diocese as an independent contractor. There was no finding that Coffey was an agent of the Diocese.

... [A] relationship of employment has always been a necessary precursor in this country to a finding of vicarious liability and it has always been necessary that the wrongful acts must be committed in the course or scope of the employment. There is no solid foundation for expansion of the doctrine or for its bounds to be redrawn.

The majority explained its conclusion in part as follows: 

... [T]he Victorian Parliament enacted the Legal Identity of Defendants (Organisational Child Abuse) Act 2018 (Vic) and amended the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) in response to the Redress and Civil Litigation Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse...  and, in so doing, adopted the recommendation in the Royal Commission report of the imposition of a new duty of care to operate prospectively only and not retrospectively....

Taken as a whole, the terms of the Victorian Parliament's legislative reforms ... weigh heavily against any expansion of the common law doctrine of vicarious liability. The "genius of the common law" includes that the "the first statement of a common law rule or principle is not its final statement", but its genius also includes many self-imposed checks and balances against "unprincipled, social engineering on the part of the common law judges". It is one thing to accept that the common law should not stand still merely "because the legislature has not moved" to adapt to changing social conditions, but another to change a common law principle in circumstances where the legislature has responded to a comprehensive review of the common law's inadequacies by the enactment of statutory provisions which make no change to that common law principle.

Justice Jagot filed a concurring opinion.

Justice Gleeson filed an opinion concurring only in the result, saying in part:

Government attention to historical child abuse by members of religious and other non-government organisations, and subsequent legislative reform to extend liability for personal injury suffered because of child abuse, reflect an evolution of attitudes to the treatment of children in our society. That evolution has produced a general intolerance of physical, sexual and psychological abuse of children, and increased recognition of societal responsibility for setting and maintaining appropriate standards of care for children, especially in institutional settings. The evolution has also been accompanied by reduced deference towards religious and charitable organisations and a commensurate preparedness to impose legal liability upon religious and other non-government organisations, including for harms inflicted by persons associated with such organisations. These changes in social conditions are not unique to Australia and can be observed across the common law world and beyond.

This case is a missed opportunity for the Australian common law to develop in accordance with changed social conditions and in tandem with developments in other common law jurisdictions. For the reasons given below, I do not agree with the plurality that relationships that are akin to employment do not attract vicarious liability in Australia.

In my view, the relationship between the Diocese of Ballarat ...,  and Father Bryan Coffey ..., an assistant parish priest appointed to that role in the parish of Port Fairy, is capable of attracting vicarious liability. Nevertheless, the Diocese is not vicariously liable for the sexual assaults that Coffey inflicted upon DP because those torts occurred in circumstances where Coffey opportunistically took advantage of his role to commit them. The torts were therefore not committed in the course of Coffey's performance of his role as assistant parish priest. Accordingly, I agree with the orders proposed by the plurality.

Law and Religion Australia reports on the decision.

[An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed some quotes from Justice Gleason to Justice Jaggot.]

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Vatican and China Extend Agreement on Appointment of Bishops

 The Vatican Press Office announced yesterday that the Vatican and China have agreed to extend for another four years their Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops. According to Vatican News:

This is the third renewal of the Agreement that, with the signing on 22 September, 2018, opened a historic chapter in relations between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China, and within the Church itself in China, allowing all bishops to be in full hierarchical communion with the Pope....

The Provisional Agreement ended decades of episcopal ordinations without papal consent, leading to a radically changed scenario in the last six years. Since then, about ten bishops have been appointed and consecrated, and Beijing officially recognized the public role of several previously unrecognized bishops.

Monday, October 07, 2024

U.S. Supreme Court Opens New Term with Cert. Denials; Red Mass Yesterday

The U.S. Supreme Court's new term began today. Yesterday in Washington the annual Red Mass marking the opening of the Supreme Court's new term-- hosted by the D.C. Archdiocese and the John Carroll Society-- was held at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. (Video of full Red Mass). According to the Washington Post, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett were in attendance.

Today, the Supreme Court issued its typical very lengthy first Order List of the Term, denying review in several hundred cases.  Among them were:

Becerra v. State of Texas, (Docket No. 23-1076, certiorari denied 10/7/2024). In the case, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an injunction issued by a Texas federal district court barring enforcement of a Guidance document on emergency abortion care issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. (See prior posting.) The HHS Guidance to hospitals (and accompanying Letter) stated that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act requires hospital emergency rooms to perform certain abortions, even when they violate Texas law, when an abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve an emergency medical condition. AP reports on the denial of review.

Young Israel of Tampa v. Hillsborough Regional Transit, (Docket No. 23-1276, certiorari denied 10/7/2024). In the case, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held unconstitutional a public transit agency's policy on the sale of advertising space on its vehicles and property.  (See prior posting.) The agency prohibited ads that "primarily promote a religious faith or religious organization." Applying this policy, the transit agency rejected an ad from plaintiff promoting a "Chanukah on Ice" event.

Hile v. State of Michigan, (Docket No. 23-1084, certiorari denied 10/7/2024). In the case, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that an amendment placed in the Michigan Constitution in 1970 that prohibits public funds from being used to aid private or religious schools does not violate the equal protection rights of parents who cannot use Michigan Educational Savings Program to send their children to religious schools. (See prior posting.) The Hill reports on the Supreme Court's action.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

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.] 

Thursday, September 19, 2024

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.

Wednesday, September 04, 2024

Catholic Diocese Sues Feds Over Rule Change For Religious Worker Visas

Suit was filed last month in a New Jersey federal district court by the Catholic diocese of Patterson, New Jersey and by several Catholic priests who are citizens of foreign countries and are in the United States on R-1 Temporary Religious Worker visas.  The lawsuit challenges a State Department rule change adopted in March 2023 which makes it more difficult for religious workers on R-1 visas to obtain EB-4 special immigrant religious worker permanent resident status ("green card"). The complaint (full text) in Roman Catholic Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey v. U.S. Department of State, (D NJ, filed 8/8/2024) alleges in part:

This civil action asserts that in March of 2023, Defendant-DOS acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it imposed an unfounded and unsupported interpretation of the Act as it relates to visa availability for individuals and subject to the EB-4 preference category and employers who must rely upon the EB-4 preference category for their workers.  The recent and sudden agency action governing the calculation of visa availability and allocation by Defendant DOS was conducted without proper notice, failed to provide for a proper period of comment, exceeded the authority of Defendant-DOS, and directly threatens Individual-Plaintiffs’ ongoing ability to carry out their religious and spiritual vocation.  In doing so, Defendant-DOS acted in a manner certain to disrupt countless religious workers, forcing Individual-Plaintiffs to either violate the terms of their nonimmigrant visa or face imminent and abrupt departure the United States without any knowledge as to when, or even if, Individual-Plaintiffs will return to the United States.

The complaint alleges, among other things, violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the 1st Amendment's Free Exercise Clause.

Americal Magazine reports on the lawsuit.  North Jersey.com reports that the State Department's reaction to the lawsuit has been a statement that says in part:

[O]nly Congress has the ability to address the imbalance between the limited supply of EB-4 visas and the increasing demand. We recognize the importance of religious ministers and workers as well as their U.S. employers who lead faith-based institutions, and we share your concern about the long wait times for EB-4 visas.

Sunday, August 25, 2024

Knights of Columbus May Move Ahead with Suit for Denial of Permit for Christmas Program

 In Knights of Columbus Council 2616 v. Town of Fairfield, (D CT, Aug. 22, 2024), a Connecticut federal district court allowed the Knights of Columbus to move ahead with free speech, free exercise and equal protection claims when the town denied its Special Event Permit Application to host a Christmas Vigil in a prominent public park rather than a less centrally located one. The court said in part:

... [P]laintiffs have shown that the defendants’ stated reason for denying their 2020 application, i.e. COVID-19 concerns, was pretextual....

Therefore, the motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims to the extent they are based on the 2020 application, on the grounds that denial of the 2020 application was a valid discretionary action by the Town to mitigate a public health emergency, is being denied. ...

The Special Events Permitting Scheme does not satisfy the requirement that it contain adequate standards to guide the official’s decision. It contains no criteria, restraints, temporal limits, or guidelines to which the Commission must adhere when ruling on an application. Nor does it contain a method to appeal the Commission’s determination or require that the Commission furnish justifications for its decisions with respect to applications for Special Events Permits. Rather, the Special Events Permitting Scheme vests the Commission with unbridled discretion....

 Viewing the factual allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the defendants’ actions were content-based. They have alleged facts showing that the Commission permitted other groups to use Sherman Green in a manner that was inconsistent with the reasons the Commission gave for denying the plaintiffs’ applications....

The Hartford Courant reports on the decision.

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Denial of Foster Care Licensure Subject to Strict Scrutiny

In Burke v. Walsh, (D MA, June 5, 2024), a Massachusetts federal district court refused to dismiss free exercise and free speech claims brought against Massachusetts Department of Children and Families personnel in their official capacities. Plaintiffs, a Catholic couple, were denied licensure for foster care and adoption because they did not demonstrate the ability to support the well-being of an LGBTQIA+ child that might be placed with them. The court said in part:

The court concludes it was clearly established, in 2023, that DCF's individualized and discretionary assessment of Plaintiffs' foster license application was not a "generally applicable" policy and thus was subject to strict scrutiny. Under the governing regulations, DCF considers 17 different subjective criteria, all of which must be demonstrated "to the satisfaction of the Department," when deciding on a foster license application. 110 C.M.R. § 7.104(1). One of these requirements, upon which Defendants relied in denying Plaintiffs' application, is "to promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of a child placed in his or her care, including supporting and respecting a child's sexual orientation or gender identity."...

 ... [T]he court need not decide, at this stage, whether it was also clearly established that Defendants' conduct would not withstand strict scrutiny analysis under these circumstances.


Sunday, July 28, 2024

Nebraska Supreme Court Upholds Dismissal of Priest's Suit Against Archdiocese

 In Syring v. Archdiocese of Omaha, (NE Sup. Ct., July 26, 2024), the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of defamation, infliction of mental distress, interference with prospective employment and breach of fiduciary duty claims by a Catholic priest against his Archdiocese.  The priest was listed on an Archdiocese website that named those against whom there had been allegations of misconduct or abuse of a minor. He was forced to resign his ministry position and the Archdiocese refused to approve his serving as a hospital chaplain. The court held that the Archdiocese's action did not meet the standard for outrageous conduct needed to sustain a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. It went on the dismiss various of plaintiff's claims on the basis of the ministerial exception doctrine.  The court said in part:

Syring’s claims asserted that the Archdiocese “falsely impute[d] unfitness to preform [sic] duties of employment, and prejudice[d] [Syring] in his profession or trade.” The other claims were premised upon Syring’s assertion that the Archdiocese owed him fiduciary duties. For example, the complaint identified a purported breach of a fiduciary duty in the Archdiocese’s “requiring [Syring’s] resignation, and omitting to advise him of his right to counsel, both civil and canonical.”

We cannot uphold Syring’s claims without interfering with the internal governance of the church, or depriving the church of control, over the selection of its ministers. The claims— based on the conversation between officials of a Catholic archdiocese and a hospital operated by a Catholic religious order regarding permission for Syring to serve as a chaplain, Syring’s fitness to perform the duties of his employment, and the requiring of Syring’s resignation from that employment— lie at the heart of the ministerial exception articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court. The district court did not err in dismissing these claims.

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Diocese Not Liable in Bankruptcy for Sex Abuse Without Agency Relationship with Abuser or Abuser's Institution

In In re Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, (SD NY, July 15, 2024), a New York federal district court affirmed a bankruptcy court's dismissal of appellants' claims that they were sexually abused as children by clergy and staff at religious institutions in the diocese's territory. The court said in part:

... [T]o adequately assert state law tort claims, Claimants must plead that the Debtor had some control over the abusers or the religious institutions where the abuse occurred....  In other words, Claimants were required to plead the existence of an employment or agency relationship between the Diocese and the alleged abusers, or an agency relationship between the Diocese and the religious institutions.   

The bankruptcy court properly determined that Claimants offered no non-conclusory allegations to support either theory of liability....

The bankruptcy court correctly observed that “the Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution bar courts from interpreting issues of religious Canon Law to resolve disputes.”...  Instead, “the claimants must show that an employment or agency relationship existed between the Debtor and abuser or Religious Institutions/Orders, based on facts relevant to those theories as they are normally established in the secular context.”... [T]he resolution of the issue presented in this case ... does not, however, depend upon any interpretation of Canon Law that would violate the First Amendment.  Here, Claimants fail to state a claim because the allegation that the Diocese revoked the faculties of one abuser accused in connection with a claim that is not at issue in this appeal is insufficient to plausibly allege that the specific abusers at issue here were employees or agents of the Diocese, or that their institutions were agencies of the Diocese.... [A]n allegation that the Diocese hired, fired, supervised, or disciplined an individual not at issue in this appeal does not support an inference that the Diocese has the power to control all clergy or staff at Catholic institutions within its geographic territory or exercised that power over any specific abuser in this appeal....

Sunday, July 14, 2024

Catholic Counselors Challenge Michigan's Transgender Conversion Therapy Ban

Suit was filed last week in a Michigan federal district court challenging the constitutionality of Michigan statutes that ban counselors from engaging in conversion therapy with minors, particularly as applied to counseling minors regarding their gender identity. The complaint (full text) in Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties v. Whitmer, (WD MI, filed 7/12/2024), alleges that the ban violates counselors' and patients' free speech rights, parents' right to control the upbringing of their children, free exercise rights of plaintiffs and parents, as well as alleging that the statute is void for vagueness.  The complaint reads in part:

115. Plaintiffs intend to continue helping young people live consistently with their own religious beliefs on matters of gender identity and sexuality—including young people who desire to align their gender identity with their biological sex, or who desire to refrain from acting on sexual attractions outside the context of male–female marriage.  

116. HB 4616 prohibits Plaintiffs from using their professional training to help young people who have these goals....

125. Because Plaintiffs are chilled or prohibited from discussing issues of human sexuality and gender identity, their clients are denied access to ideas they wish to hear and to counseling that would help them live consistently with their own personal, religious, and life goals. 

126. Parents of these children are likewise deprived of their right to direct the religious upbringing of their children by obtaining counseling that respects their religious identity. 

127. This acutely impacts religious minorities. Such religious minorities are underrepresented among counselors generally, and it is especially difficult to find counselors willing to counsel minors who are struggling to reconcile their faith with their gender identity and sexuality....

Becket Fund issued a press release announcing the lawsuit. 

Wednesday, July 03, 2024

Court Rejects Texas AG's Challenge To Catholic Agency Assisting Migrants

 As previously reported, a legal battle has been underway between Annunciation House, a Catholic agency serving migrants and refugees in El Paso, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who accuses the agency of sheltering migrants who have entered the country illegally. This week the Attorney General failed in his efforts to close down Annunciation House.  In Annunciation House, Inc. v. Paxton (I), (TX Dist. Ct., July 1, 2024), a Texas state trial court held that Texas statutes which bar harboring migrants to induce them to stay illegally in the U.S. are pre-empted by federal law and cannot be used as the basis for a quo warranto action to revoke the agency's registration to operate in Texas. The court said in part:

The State’s proposed counterclaim in the nature of quo warranto violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act by substantially burdening Annunciation House’s free exercise of religion and failing to use the “least restrictive means” of securing compliance with the law.

In Annunciation House, Inc. v. Paxton (II), (TX Dist. Ct., July 1, 2024), the court dismissed the Attorney General's suit against Annunciation House, saying in part:

The record before this Court makes clear that the Texas Attorney General’s use of the request to examine documents from Annunciation House was a pretext to justify its harassment of Annunciation House employees and the persons seeking refuge.

El Paso Times reports on the case.

Tuesday, July 02, 2024

Belgian Court Fines Catholic Archbishop and Cardinal for Denying Woman Clergy Training

The Pillar and Catholic News Agency report that a Belgian civil court has fined a Cardinal and an Archbishop each 1500 Euros for refusing to allow a woman to register for training as a deacon in the Catholic Church. Article 10 of Belgium's Constitution provides that "Equality between women and men is guaranteed." In Belgium, the state pays the salaries of clergy, but the Catholic Church reserves holy orders to baptized men. While the court held that the Church should have admitted Veer Dusauchoit for training, it did not address whether the Church would later be required to ordain her.

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Court Says EEOC Exceeded Its Authority in New Rules Under Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

In State of Louisiana v. EEOC, (WD LA, June 17, 2024), a Louisiana federal district court granted a preliminary injunction to the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and two Louisiana dioceses, postponing the effectiveness of new EEOC rules under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act that require employers to accommodate employees' elective abortions. The court said in part:

If Congress had intended to mandate that employers accommodate elective abortions under the PWFA, it would have spoken clearly when enacting the statute, particularly given the enormous social, religious, and political importance of the abortion issue in our nation at this time (and, indeed, over the past 50 years).  The Court is therefore not persuaded, on the record before it, that Congress could reasonably be understood to have granted the EEOC the authority to interpret the scope of the PWFA in a way that imposes a nationwide mandate on both public and private employers – irrespective of applicable abortion-related state laws enacted in the wake of Dobbs – to provide workplace accommodation for the elective abortions of employees.

In this sense, EEOC’s use of its regulatory power to insert the issue of abortion into a law designed to ensure healthy pregnancies for America’s working mothers squarely implicates the “major questions doctrine” as enunciated by the Supreme Court....  The major questions doctrine applies when an “agenc[y] assert[s] highly consequential power beyond what Congress could reasonably be understood to have granted.”...

Clearly, EEOC failed to include a broad religious exception in the Final Rule, and... EEOC’s interpretation of the PWFA religious exception – inasmuch as it mirrors the religious exception in Title VII, an antidiscrimination statute – does not square with the PWFA.

See prior related posting.