WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court issued two 7-2 rulings today that are big victories for religious freedom. First, in the Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru case, the Court ruled that religious schools cannot be forced to hire and employ teachers that don’t hold fast to the school’s faith and religious practices. Next, in the Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania case, the Court upheld the Trump Administration’s rule that said religious employers cannot be forced to provide contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans, if doing so would violate that organization’s religious beliefs.
Religious schools, not the government, should have the final say in their hiring and firing decisions. The Court’s ruling protects the First Amendment by acknowledging that. Justice Samuel Alito wrote,
The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of the teachers upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission. Judicial review of the way in which religious schools discharge those responsibilities would undermine the independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate.
In the Little Sisters of the Poor case, the Court has once again affirmed, after a drawn-out legal battle, that religious groups should not be required to cover contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs in violation of their religious beliefs, this time upholding the religious exemption rule put in place by the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration. The Little Sisters of the Poor have faced years of litigation over their right to religious freedom. Today’s decision once again affirmed that they should be free to do their work of caring for the poor and elderly in peace.
In order for religious freedom to be protected, people must be free to act in accordance with their beliefs. In both of today’s cases, the Court affirmed that it is not the role of the government to dictate how people practice their religious beliefs or to penalize them if they refuse to compromise those beliefs. Both Our Lady of Guadalupe School and Little Sisters of the Poor are wins for religious freedom and First Amendment rights!
