A major defeat for religious liberties
After the Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution in 2018 condemning “discrimination that occurs under the guise of religious freedom,” the city terminated a 50-year-old contractual relationship with Catholic Social Services (CSS), who refused to certify same-gender couples as potential foster parents.
CSS and two foster parents, one of whom is named Sharonell Fulton, sued, claiming Philadelphia discriminated against their religious beliefs about traditional marriage. A US District Court ruled in favor of the city. The Third US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. The Supreme Court last Thursday voted unanimously (9-0) to reverse the lower court rulings, saying the city’s action violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause by forcing the CSS to choose between “curtailing its mission” or approving of “relationships inconsistent with its beliefs.” The Free Exercise Clause prohibits government regulation of religious beliefs, including misuse of secular government programs to impede religious observance.
Lewin is the founder of the Washington-based law firm Lewin and Lewin LLP and has been Orthodox Jewry’s foremost advocate at the Supreme Court for the last half century.
In an amicus curiae brief (“friend of the court”) written on behalf of the petitioners, Lewin asked the Court to overturn the lower court decision, and, alongside the petitioners, asked the Court to go one giant step further, and overrule a damaging Supreme Court precedent — Oregon v. Smith — that has undermined religious-liberty claims for the past 30 years.
Create a free account to keep reading.
