Religious liberty cases

Religious liberty cases include the following:

American Legion v. American Humanist Ass’n, 139 S. Ct. 2067 (2019)

California v. Calvary Chapel San Jose, Case No. 20CV372285 (Cal. Super. Ct., April 7, 2023) (California state court ordering Calvary Chapel San Jose to pay fines of more than $1 million for not complying with supposedly “equal” mask mandates imposed purportedly based on COVID-19).

Capitol Hill Baptist Church v. Bowser, 496 F. Supp. 3d 288, 295 (D.D.C. 2020) (“it is for the Church, not the District or this Court, to define for itself the meaning of ‘not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.’ Hebrews 10:25.”).

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993)

Davis v. Beason, 133 U.S. 333 (1890) (“The term ‘religion’ has reference to one’s views of his relations to his Creator, and to the obligations they impose of reverence for His being and character, and of obedience to His will.")

Emp. Div. Dep’t of Human Res. of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) (typically distinguished today: this decisiona against religious liberty concerned an “outward physical act” which was the conduct of ingesting peyote, rather than “government’s interference with an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself” - Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 190)

Everson v. Bd. of Educ. of the Twp. of Ewing, 330 U.S. 1 (1947)

First Pentecostal Church of Holly Springs v. City of Holly Springs, 959 F.3d 669, 670 (5th Cir. 2020) (Willet, J., concurring) (“‘Ekklesia,’ the Greek word for church, means the gathered ones, an assembly of the faithful.” ) (citing Ekklesia, The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Alexander P. Kashdan, ed., 1991)).

Holy Trinity Church v. United States, 143 U.S. 457 (1892)

Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & Sch. v. EEOC, 565 U.S. 171, 190 (2012) (distinguished its Smith on the grounds that, although a discrimination law is a valid and neutral law of general applicability, “a church’s selection of its ministers is unlike an individual’s ingestion of peyote. Smith involved government regulation of only outward physical acts. The present case, in contrast, concerns government’s interference with an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself.”)

Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church in North America, 344 U.S. 94 (1952)

Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist., 142 S. Ct. 2407 (2022) (holding that the Founders' understanding of the Establishment Clause should govern today, and that Religion Clauses are complementary to each other)

Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrisey-Berru, 140 S. Ct 2049 (2020) (“State interference [with matters of faith and doctrine], and any attempt by government to dictate or even to influence such matters would constitute one of the central attributes of an establishment of religion. The First Amendment outlaws such intrusion.”)

Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 163 (1879) (upheld laws against polygamy because religious liberty cannot prevail when there are "overt acts against peace and good order": "it is declared 'that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.' In these two sentences is found the true distinction between what properly belongs to the church and what to the State.") (quoting a preamble by legislation drafted by Thomas Jefferson that passed in Virginia during the Articles of Confederation, while a prior bill more protective of religion as proposed by James Madison failed).

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63 (2020) (6-3 per curiam majority, with a notable concurrence by Justice Gorsuch). “[T]here is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques.” Roman Catholic Diocese v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63, 72 (2020) (Gorsuch, J., concurring).

Town of Greece v. Galloway, 572 U.S. 565 (2014)

Updegraph v. Com., 11 Serg. & R. 394, 400 (Pa. 1824) (“Christianity, general Christianity, is, and always has been, a part of the common law of Pennsylvania; not Christianity with an established church and tithes and spiritual courts, but Christianity with liberty of conscience to all men.”)