On This Independence Day We Celebrate the Court Decision on Religious Liberty

On This Independence Day, We Celebrate the Court Decision on Religious Liberty

Constitutional attorney and former Ohio Senate President Larry Obhoff breaks down the recent SCOTUS decisions on religious liberty. 

Carson v. Makin (2022) - Maine case involving school vouchers. Maine had a broad-based voucher program, in part because Maine has big rural areas where they literally don’t have public schools. The state forbids vouchers from being used at religious schools. The Supreme Court struck down this policy. (I worked on this case for Buckeye Institute.)

Kennedy v Bremerton (2022) - A football coach was fired for saying a silent prayer after games at the 50-yard line. Supreme Court held it violated the Free Exercise Clause.

Shurtleff v Boston (2022) - The city of Boston allowed hundreds of organizations to use the city flagpole to fly their own flags, 284 flags without ever rejecting one. Told a Christian group they could not use the flagpole. Supreme Court said (unanimously) that this violated the Free Speech Clause.

Geoff v DeJoy (2023) - decided last week. The Postal Service repeatedly punished an employee for not working on the Sabbath.  Supreme Court unanimously held that he was protected by federal civil rights laws.

303 Creative v Elenis (2023) decided last week. In a 6-3 opinion, the Court held that the First Amendment prohibits the state of Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which she disagrees.

On one hand, these victories suggest a bunch of wins for religious liberty. On the other hand, the fact that five cases like this ended up in front of the court in an 18-month window suggests that government intrusion on religious liberty is widespread.

Part 2   The state budget breakdown with Greg Lawson, Research Fellow with the Buckeye Institute. 

Historic expansion of universal school vouchers is the state school budget