Religious Law Blog Posts (23)
Two recent decisions on invocational prayer before local government Board meetings, filed in March of 2013, came out in opposite directions, but give some insight into the legal principles involved in determining whether Boards can properly sponsor a formal prayer before meetings. In Hudson v. Pittsylvania County, the federal district…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
Previously, we discussed the magistrate judge’s decision in United States v. Dillard, which held that communications between a lay spiritual counselor and a prisoner were not privileged. Angel Dillard appealed that decision to the district court, which reversed (in Case No. 11-1098-JTM), holding that her communications with Scott Roeder were…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
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Religious Law Blog Posts
Confidential communication with clergy has been protected for centuries under the common law. This means that clergy do not have to disclose the content of those discussions. How far does that confidentiality extend? The answer varies depending on the state statute, but a federal magistrate judge in Kansas says that…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
Reverse veil piercing is not an obscure form of body art but an obscure legal doctrine related to corporate law. Stephen Bainbridge of the UCLA School of Law wrote an article called “Using Reverse Veil Piercing to Vindicate the Free Exercise Rights of Incorporated Employers,” which can be downloaded at…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) makes the government meet a very tough standard for a land use regulation that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise, including for churches. Obviously an important initial question is whether the regulation does impose a substantial burden. A Fourth Circuit…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
A group of eight Muslim men detained in the aftermath of 9/11 filed claims against a number of government officials in a case called Turkmen v. Ashcroft, including then-Attorney General John Ashcroft from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Director of the FBI, the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
A recent Department of Education investigation focuses on the tension between student and teacher free speech rights, the Free Exercise versus Establishment clauses, and the difference between respect and approval. The facts as alleged in the articles are as follows. Apparently a high school girl asked a teacher, First Sergeant…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
Recent Court Cases Go Both Ways. Five recent decisions on the HHS mandate involve Christian for-profit companies. Each of these companies objected to providing contraceptives and sterilization, abortifacients, or both on religious grounds, and filed a lawsuit to avoid having to do so. Three decisions granted a preliminary injunction to…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
On August 29, 2012, the Eighth Circuit decided in favor of Child Evangelism Fellowship in Child Evangelism Fellowship v. Minneapolis Special Sch. Dist. No. 1. It reversed the denial of CEF’s preliminary injunction where it had tried to stop a school district in Minnesota from limiting school facility access for…
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Religious Law Blog Posts
