Religion Law Commons^™

Masking God In Resurrection School V. Hertel: One School’S Efforts To Exercise Religion During An Ongoing Pandemic, Sean Turnipseed

Mississippi College Law Review

SARS-CoV-2, colloquially termed “COVID-19,” dramatically altered the world in which we live. But no one would have guessed the virus would spark a flurry of litigation under the U.S. Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause. Shortly after the virus began to spread, former President Donald Trump advised a twoweek plan with hopes to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19’s impact. The plan encouraged individuals to avoid gatherings with ten or more people, work and attend school from home, eat at home rather than in restaurants, and avoid discretionary travel and shopping, to name a few. But the two-week plan did not effectively thwart …

Religion As Disobedience, Xiao Wang

Vanderbilt Law Review

Religion today offers plaintiffs a ready path to disobey laws without consequence. Examples of such disobedience abound. In the past few years alone, courts have enjoined vaccine mandates, invalidated stay-at-home orders, and set aside antidiscrimination laws protecting same-sex couples. During the 2021-2022 Term, plaintiffs relied once again on free exercise to subvert laws governing public education, capital punishment, and school prayer. Some hospitals have begun denying fertility treatment to LGBTQ employees on this same basis.

How did religion become a skeleton key for lawbreaking without repercussion? The conventional wisdom is that, after decades of neglect, the Supreme Court finally began …