freedom of religion

A liberal Protestant denomination filed a lawsuit last week challenging North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage, arguing that the freedom of religion of its clergy members is violated because they are not able to join same-sex couples in matrimony, the New York Times reports.  The lawsuit is the "first such case brought by a national religious denomination challenging a state’s marriage laws," the Times further reports.

North Carolina's law criminalizes the religious blessing of weddings that do not involve state-issued marriage licenses.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case of a New Mexico wedding photographer who refused to work at a same-sex wedding ceremony, USA Today reports: "The case would have posed an important constitutional question with potentially sweeping implications: whether merchants whose products are inherently expressive must serve customers even when it conflicts with their beliefs." The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that turning down customers on the basis of sexual orientation violates the state's anti-discrimination law.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer must decide whether to sign legislation that would allow conservative religious business owners to refuse to provide services to same-sex couples regarding their marriages, such as wedding photography, wedding cakes and flowers, The New York Times reports. On one hand, "civil libertarians and gay rights advocates say there is a difference between protections for clergy and houses of worship that do not want to participate in same-sex marriage and the obligations of business owners that serve the general public," The Times further reports. On the other hand, Sarah Warbelow, the state legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign, told The Times, "'this is not about the freedom of individuals to practice their religion, this is about a license to discriminate against individuals.'"

United Press International has this roundup of cases to watch when the U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes January 13: "The big dog in the rest of the Supreme Court term which ends when the justices 'rise; for the summer recess -- when the supreme backsides leave their comfortable rocking chairs behind the bench -- is the challenge to the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate. The case demonstrates a Washington fact: The Supreme Court often influences how the average American lives as much or more than Congress or the White House. The justices agreed to settle the dispute over the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate -- whether the health of women covered is dispositive, as the Obama administration argues, or whether the owners of for-profit businesses may use religious objections to avoid providing contraception insurance."

The New York Times' Adam Liptak writes that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide tomorrow if it will hear a lower court decision that mandating a corporation provide contraceptive coverage for its employees violates freedom of religion.

The clash over the requirement that most employers, as well as insurers for religious institutions that are not directly associated with houses of worship, cover female employees' contraception is primed for the U.S. Supreme Court, UPI reports. The Sixth and Third Circuits ruled against challenges to the insurance mandate to cover contraception, but the 10th Circuit has ruled in favor of a challenge by two private, secular companies, UPI also reported. The Solicitor General has asked the Supreme Court to grant certiorari on the issue, and such requests tend to be granted by the justices, UPI also reports.

Two separate cases have reached the U.S. Supreme Court seeking certiorari on the mandate that all health insurance cover contraception and other means of ending pregnancies. The Tenth Circuit sided with an employer opposing providing such coverage, while the Third Circuit sided against an employer, according to this clip from The Cardinal Newman Society, which promotes Catholicism. The stage is now set for a circuit split on the tension between women's reproductive rights and religious beliefs.