The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an appellate court ruling that a California Catholic hospital violated gender identity discrimination law when it refused to perform a hysterectomy on a trans-identified female, the Christian Post (CP) reports. The case now returns to state court for the plaintiff to proceed with their lawsuit against the hospital.
A judge in Texas ruled Sunday that businesses and religious nonprofits can be protected from LGBTQ and transgender lawsuits provided the person in charge of hiring and firing makes decisions based on sincerely held beliefs, the Washington Examiner reports.
A Christian web designer in Colorado is appealing to the US Supreme Court after a 10th Circuit Court ruling that state anti-discrimination law requires her to create wedding websites for same-sex couples against her religious beliefs, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) reported. The case is the latest to address whether there is a First Amendment right to deny services to LGBTQ people or whether this amounts to discrimination.
This year has seen 106 new pro-life laws passed, a record which overtook the previous record of 100 anti-abortion laws passed in 1973, The 19th reports. The 2021 laws were passed by 19 states, with twelve of the new acts incorporating some kind of total ban on abortion, The 19th said.
A federal judge on Wednesday issued an injunction to temporarily block implementation of the controversial Texas “heartbeat” law which bans abortion from around six weeks gestation, DW reports. US District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin ordered the temporary injunction in response to a suit filed by the Biden administration, which argued the law is unconstitutional.
In what will be a test case to assess the legality of Texas’ new law banning abortion after six weeks, a doctor in San Antonio has become the first person to be sued for violating the legislation, the Guardian reports. After publicly stating he had violated the law by carrying out a first-trimester abortion on September 6, Dr. Alan Braid received notification he is being sued by two former lawyers in Arkansas and Illinois respectively.
A former high school football coach who was fired for praying after games is now asking the US Supreme Court to consider his case of unlawful dismissal, Fox News reports. Joe Kennedy is appealing to the Supreme Court following a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that Bremerton School District in Washington state had fired him lawfully.
The Students for Life of America (SLA) anti-abortion group held a counter-demonstration outside the US Supreme Court last week, protesting against a “Self-Managed Abortion Teach-In” rally led by the Reproaction pro-choice group, the Christian Post (CP) reports. In an effort to provide a “counter-voice” to the pro-choice narrative, SLA is planning to hold demonstrations at other pro-choice events in the coming weeks.
Two US Supreme Court have stated that a defamation lawsuit by D. James Kennedy Ministries (DJKM) against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) offers the Court an opportunity to review its controversial landmark defamation ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), Fox News reports. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch are calling for the Supreme Court to hear the case specifically in order to revisit the high standard of “actual malice” that was set in 1964, and which they say has rendered it excessively difficult for plaintiffs to prove libel.
The Loudoun County school board in Virginia voted Wednesday to require staff to refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns and to allow trans students to participate in sports and use facilities based on their gender identity, the Washington Times reports. The Rights of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students policy was approved 7-2 after an extensive public comment session.
An evangelical church in Maine is asking the United States Supreme Court to prohibit the state from ever placing COVID-19 restrictions on worship gatherings again, the Washington Times reports. While Maine removed all restrictions on gatherings in May, Calvary Chapel Bangor is appealing to the Supreme Court for fear the Delta variant may cause lockdowns and restrictions to be reinstated.
More than 300 lawmakers in 35 states have signed an amicus brief for submission to the US Supreme Court, arguing that the 1973 Roe v Wade case which legalized abortion before viability is unconstitutional, Just the News reports. Prepared by University of Michigan Law school graduate Jacob Weaver, the brief further argues that abortion laws are a matter for individual states to decide.
States in the US have enacted a record total of 90 pro-life laws in the first half of this year alone, already more than the previous record of 89 in the whole of 2011, the Guttmacher Institute said in a July 1 report. The laws have been enacted in the face of US Supreme Court rulings that women can choose to have an abortion before fetal viability.
A former challenger of the autocratic president of Belarus has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Viktor Babaryko received the penalty for alleged financial wrongdoing, charges he says are politically motivated. The jail term is another setback for thousands of people demanding change in the former Soviet nation.
Nevada is to pay Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley church $175,000 for legal fees it incurred in its lawsuit against state COVID-19 restrictions on houses of worship, the Christian Post reports. The Nevada Board of Examiners unanimously approved a request from the Office of the Attorney General to pay the funds as the result of a tort claim.
A new Gallup poll shows that 58% of Americans are opposed to overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 US Supreme Court decision on abortion, Gallup reports. Carried out between May 3-18, the poll found 32% of Americans are in favor of overturning the ruling.
A new Gallup poll shows US support for legal same-sex marriage is at a record high of 70%, Gallup reports. The poll also shows that, for the first time, a majority of Republicans (55%) also support legal same-sex marriage.
Religious freedom advocates are awaiting a major ruling from the Supreme Court this month. It hinges on LGBTQ advocates trying to force a faith-based foster agency to violate its religious beliefs.
In a ruling which means the US Supreme Court does not have to immediately get involved, a federal appeals court temporarily reinstated Tennessee’s 48-hour waiting period for abortions, the Washington Free Beacon reports. The appeals court decision overturned a 2020 trial court decision which determined the waiting period instituted in 2017 to be unconstitutional.
John McArthur’s Grace Community Church in Los Angeles County, California filed new documents Friday in an ongoing legal fight over the freedom to hold indoor services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Just the News reports.