Center for Law & Religious Freedom Urges Supreme Court to Review Case of Church Evicted from Public Meeting Space
The CLS Center has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a split Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision affirming government officials' decision to exclude a ministry from a public library meeting room that was open to other community groups. Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries and its leader, Hattie Hopkins (represented by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys) brought suit after Contra Costa County Library officials in Antioch, California revoked previously granted permission for the group to continue to meet in the library's community room after learning that the group's first meeting included prayer and singing. County officials stated that the group could meet on the premises to hear a message on the Bible, but that the inclusion of prayer and singing turned the meeting into a forbidden "religious service." CLS argued that the Court of Appeals' majority opinion has ignored historical practice and jeopardized the free exercise of religion throughout the country by granting state and local governments the power to exclude a religious organization from conducting a "religious service" in a space generally made available for other community organizations for "educational, cultural and community related meetings, programs, and activities."
CLS's friend-of-the-court brief was filed on behalf of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the Coalition for Equal Access, which is a nationwide association of churches and religious groups who meet for services in public buildings. CLS reminded the Court that thousands of churches meet in public spaces such as schools and municipal buildings each week, frequently because economic conditions or oppressive zoning restrictions preclude congregations from buying and building their own houses of worship. Congregations are sometimes displaced from their churches as well, such as St. Bernard Baptist Church of Louisiana, which began meeting in a public high school after their small church building was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. CLS also pointed to a well- established historical record of holding worship services in public buildings. Founders James Madison and Thomas Jefferson attended services in the U.S. House of Representatives, CLS noted, and the practice of holding worship services in the House continued until after the Civil War. The first Treasury Building likewise housed several denominations' church services until it was burned by the British in 1814. A Library of Congress online exhibition, "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic," available at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06- 2.html, includes other examples of public expressions of faith in the early Republic. CLS' brief in Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries v. Glover, No. 06- 1633, filed on August 6, 2007, can be read at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/CLS- FCamicus.pdf. The brief was authored by Frederick W. Claybrook, Jr. of Crowell & Moring, LLP, in Washington, DC.
CLS Center Joins Brief Seeking High Court Review of Decision Forcing Catholic Charities to Provide Contraceptive Coverage to Employees
CLS has joined an amicus brief supporting Supreme Court review of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany v. Dinallo. The case involves a religious freedom lawsuit brought by Catholic Charities of Albany challenging a statutory mandate imposed by New York's Women's Health and Wellness Act ("WHWA") that requires that all group insurance policies that provide coverage for prescription drugs also cover contraceptive drugs or devices. Although the legislature exempted from this requirement any "religious employers" for whom compliance would violate their religious tenets, the definition of that term effectively excluded religious charities.
The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, rejected Catholic Charities' claims and held that despite the existence of a narrow religious exemption, the WHWA was neutral and generally applicable, and therefore not subject to strict scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Catholic Charities' petition to the U.S. Supreme Court argues that the state court's decision conflicts with two decisions of the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals which analyze "neutrality" and "general applicability" differently than did the New York Court of Appeals. The brief also contends that the court below declined to follow U.S. Supreme Court decisions holding that laws that discriminate among religious groups must satisfy strict scrutiny.
The amicus brief filed on July 23, 2007 in Catholic Charities v. Dinallo, Supreme Court No. 06-1550, may be viewed at this link: www.clsnet.org/clrfPages/amicus/2007/CatholicCharitiesAmiciBr.pdf. The brief was authored by attorneys from the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, including Carter G. Phillips, Paul J. Zidlicky and Jeffrey Berman.
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