Becket

Parents in Maryland are fighting back against the Montgomery County Board of Education for forcing pre-K and elementary-aged children to read controversial books that go directly against their religious beliefs with no parental notification or opportunity to opt out. The case will be heard at SCOTUS on April 22. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gbRiZZY2

"This issue has been up to the Supreme Court three times in recent years. Every time the Supreme Court has said you can't exclude religious schools just because they are religious." Becket's Lori Windham discusses an upcoming Supreme Court case, St. Isidore v. Drummond, with The Center Square. https://lnkd.in/gWmBCVii

On Monday the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest supporting Jewish students and faculty at UCLA in the ongoing battle to combat antisemitism. Read the latest from Jaweed K. in the Los Angeles Times here: https://lnkd.in/gRzcvwex

Catholic Charities Bureau extends compassionate support to individuals with disabilities, the elderly, and those in need across the Diocese of Superior. However, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that its outreach efforts were not sufficiently religious. As a result, Catholic Charities is now required to contribute to the state’s unemployment compensation system, while being barred from participating in the Wisconsin Catholic Bishops’ more efficient, church-run unemployment program. https://lnkd.in/gszbYZKA

Catholic Charities Bureau extends compassionate support to individuals with disabilities, the elderly, and those in need across the Diocese of Superior. However, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that its outreach efforts were not sufficiently religious. As a result, Catholic Charities is now required to contribute to the state’s unemployment compensation system, while being barred from participating in the Wisconsin Catholic Bishops’ more efficient, church-run unemployment program. https://lnkd.in/gszbYZKA

The Justice Department filed a groundbreaking brief late yesterday supporting Jewish students and a professor in their case against UCLA for helping antisemitic agitators ban Jews from campus. Last night’s filing marks the first time since antisemitism burst forth in the wake of the October 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel that the federal government has filed a statement of interest in a campus antisemitism case to argue that a university should be held accountable for its antisemitic actions. https://lnkd.in/gfM5S3r8

Many Catholic dioceses have a social ministry arm that serves the disadvantaged within their local community. Since 1917, Catholic Charities has fulfilled this mission for the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin, providing services to help the disabled, the elderly, and the poor throughout the Diocese. After being deemed not religious enough to qualify for a religious exemption to the state's unemployment benefit program by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Catholic Charities’ case will be heard at the United States Supreme Court on March 31. Follow the case here:?https://lnkd.in/gszbYZKA?

For over 60 years, federal law has allowed churches, mosques, and synagogues to give their ministers a “housing allowance” that is exempt from federal income tax. This helps religious leaders live in the communities they serve, and it keeps the IRS from getting entangled in religious matters. But in 2011, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the IRS to eliminate the exemption—a result that would particularly harm low-income and minority communities. Becket represented several churches and their leaders, including Pastor Chris Butler, the leader of a predominantly African-American congregation in Chicago’s South Side. In March 2019, the Seventh Circuit unanimously ruled in favor of the tax exemption. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/g67KZ6-A

A Chinese-owned mining company is planning to destroy Native American sacred land, making Apache religious practices there impossible. Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies, are asking the Supreme Court to protect Oak Flat. Follow their journey here:?https://lnkd.in/gepK8Vvw?

State officials are still trying to keep religious schools out of state programs, no matter how many times the Supreme Court tells them no. Becket and Orthodox Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief at the Supreme Court in support of St. Isidore of Seville, a Catholic school in Oklahoma seeking to join the state’s charter school program. https://lnkd.in/g9vJjrTA