Tag: freedom of religion

Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Administration Sued for Discrimination Against Catholic Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

St. Dominic Academy in Auburn, Maine filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the administration of Gov. Janet Mills (D) and the Maine Human Rights Commission that alleges the state has continued to “outmaneuver” the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Carson v. Makin by excluding religious schools from its longstanding program whereby students residing in districts without a public school are given the opportunity to attend the public or private school of their family’s choosing.

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Web Designer Forced to Publish Messages Countering Her Religious Faith Asks Supreme Court to Hear Case

Ohio Star Staff
Person coding a website

A Colorado web designer asked the Supreme Court to take up her case challenging a state law forcing her to publish websites with messages counter to her religious beliefs.

Lorie Smith filed the petition with the Supreme Court on Friday, arguing a lower court ruling that upheld the Colorado law was wrongly decided, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the firm representing her, announced. The law compelled Smith’s speech in violation of her First Amendment rights by forcing her business 303 Creative to produce content against her beliefs, she said.

“The government shouldn’t weaponize the law to force a web designer to speak messages that violate her belief,” ADF General Counsel Kristen Waggoner said during a press call before filing the petition. “This case involves quintessential free speech and artistic freedom, which the 10th circuit astonishingly and dangerously cast aside here.”

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Supreme Court Sides with Student Whose Christian Beliefs Were Suppressed by Georgia College Campus

Ohio Star Staff

In a rare nearly-unanimous decision, the Supreme Court sided with a Christian college student whose right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion were initially silenced by his college campus in Georgia, as reported by ABC News.

The 8-1 decision was led by Justice Clarence Thomas, with Chief Justice John Roberts being the sole dissenting vote. Writing for the majority, Justice Thomas said that Chike Uzuegbunam, an African-American Evangelical Christian, can seek nominal damages from Georgia Gwinnett College, after officials at the school told him he was not allowed to hand out Christian literature on the campus’s “free speech zone.” This comes even after the school reversed course from its initial restrictions, and after Uzuegbunam ultimately graduated.

“It is undisputed that he experienced a complete violation of his constitutional rights when respondents enforced their speech policies against him,” Thomas wrote. “Because ‘every violation [of a right] imports damage,’ nominal damages can redress Uzuegbunam’s injury even if he cannot or chooses not to qualify that harm in economic terms.”

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‘Absolute Monarchy’: Catholic Priests, Jewish Congregants Sue Cuomo, De Blasio Over Double Standards on Worship, Protests

Ohio Star Staff

Catholic priests and Jewish congregants have filed a lawsuit against Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over double standards on worship and protests.

Two Catholic priests from upstate New York and three Orthodox Jewish congregants from Brooklyn filed lawsuit June 10 against Cuomo, de Blasio, and Attorney General Letitia James in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.

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