Religion Law Commons^™

The Catholic Law School & Constitutional Self-Government, The Honorable Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain

Catholic University Law Review

Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain serves as a Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This talk was delivered at the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America on September 15, 2014 for the 2014 Brendan F. Brown Lecture and has been adapted and updated for this article format.

A Primer On Hobby Lobby: For-Profit Corporate Entities’ Challenge To The Hhs Mandate, Free Exercise Rights, Rfra’S Scope, And The Nondelegation Doctrine, Terri R. Day, Leticia M. Diaz, Danielle Weatherby

Pepperdine Law Review

Earlier this term, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in the consolidated case of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, the first of a litany of cases in which for-profit business entities are invoking the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA") in support of their claim that the Affordable Care Act’s HHS Mandate violates their freedom of religion. In particular, these plaintiffs argue that the Mandate’s requirement that employer-provided health insurance covers the costs of contraceptives, the "morning after" pill, and other fertility-related drugs conflicts with their deeply-held religious belief that life begins at conception and is, therefore, unconstitutional. …

Timeline Of Fr. Laurier Labreche, 1926-2015, Hall & Monagle, Llc

Timelines

No abstract provided.

The Crisis Of Secular Liberalism And The Constitutional State In Comparative Perspective: Religion, Rule Of Law, And Democratic Organization Of Religion Privileging States, Larry Catá Backer

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Dias V. Archdiocese Of Cincinnati: Deciphering The Ministerial Exception To Title Vii Post-Hosanna-Tabor, Caroline O. Dehaan

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Roundtable Discussion: Opposition To Islamic And Jewish Religious Practices In Contemporary America: Overlap And Divergences, The Anti-Shari'a Movement In America, Wajahat Ali, Lee Ann Bambach, Samuel Freedman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Faith-Based Private Arbitration As A Model For Preserving Rights And Values In A Pluralistic Society, Michael J. Broyde

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article discusses private arbitration in religious and values-oriented communities. Using contract law as the foundation for arbitration law, religious arbitration panels can function almost like courts so long as the government can assure basic fairness and proper procedures, while allowing the parties to resolve their private dispute as the parties wish. This article explains that to be enforced, these private courts must meet the procedural requirements set by the Federal Arbitration Act, but American arbitration law is not generally concerned with the substantive law used by these tribunals, although this article recommends practices that religious tribunals ought to adopt …

Religious Law, Family Law And Arbitration: Shari'a And Halakha In America, Mohammad H. Fadel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The possibility that Muslims might use private arbitration as a forum in which their family law disputes could be settled according to the principles of Islamic law has generated substantial controversy, with one liberal democracy, Canada, even taking affirmative steps to insure that religious-based arbitration of family law disputes are denied legal recognition. This paper argues that such moves are ill-considered. From the perspective of political liberalism, the arbitration of family law disputes within a framework of religious law, provided that the arbitration is subject to review by a public court for conformity with public policy, is an ideal tool …

Between Law And Religion: Procedural Challenges To Religious Arbitration Awards, Michael A. Helfand

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Article explores the unique status of religious law as a hybrid concept that simultaneously retains the characteristics of both law and religion. To do so, the Article considers as a case study how courts should evaluate procedural challenges to religious arbitration awards. To respond to such challenges, courts must treat religious law as law when defining the contractually adopted religious procedural rules, but treat religious law as religion when reviewing precisely what the religious procedural rules require. On this account, constitutional and arbitration doctrine combine to insulate religious arbitration awards from judicial scrutiny even on procedural grounds, leaving courts …

Installations Of Jewish Law In Public Urban Space: An American Eruv Controversy, Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article analyzes the ongoing controversy over the installation of an eruv in Westhampton Beach. The author first provides an analytical description of the case with reference to other recent eruv controversies. Similar to arguments advanced in earlier eruv controversies, lawyers in the Westhampton case have taken recourse to the First Amendment, with proponents of the eruv relying on the free exercise clause, and opponents relying on the establishment clause. The article then proceeds to discuss the implications of this controversy for the larger issues of religion in the public sphere, as one of the critical issues emerging in all …

Operating Islamic Jurisprudence In Non-Muslim Jurisdictions: Traditional Islamic Precepts And Contemporary Controversies In The United States, Mustafa R. K. Baig

Chicago-Kent Law Review

With the recent public furor in the United States regarding “Shari‘a,” studies into the content of Islamic jurisprudence concerning Muslims living under non-Muslim jurisdiction are more pertinent than ever in the U.S. context. As “anti-Shari‘a” rhetoric has increased in fervency, informed input into the debates could go some way in correcting the peddled misconceptions. The paper begins by assessing how Muslim scholars viewed a Muslim’s travel to and residence in non-Muslim lands, and the obligation to abide by the laws of the land. It will focus on the jihad (siyar) section in Islamic jurisprudence and the section on …

Continuing The Constitutional Dialogue: A Discussion On Justice Stevens's Establishment Clause And Free Exercise Jurisprudence, Alan Brownstein

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Fixture On A Changing Court: Justice Stevens And The Establishment Clause, Erwin Chemerinsky

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Doe V. Elmbrook School District And The Importance Of Refocusing Establishment Clause Jurisprudence, Julie M. Karaba

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Culture: Human Rights Universalisms Versus Religious And Cultural Relativism In The Activism For Gender Justice, Cyra Akila Choudhury

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

People Of The Book: Judaism’S Influence On American Legal Scholarship, My Journey From Judaism To Jewish Law, Donna Litman

Faculty Scholarship

My personal study of the Torah and the Talmud as an adult has enhanced my legal scholarship and helped shape my current thinking on legal theory. At the same time, my professional legal training and experience as a law professor has shaped my understanding of Judaism and provided a legal terminology and a lens by which to view the array of Jewish laws. A confluence of events helped shape my personal and professional journey.

'Mergens V. Westside Community Schools' At Twenty-Five And 'Christian Legal Society V. Martinez': From Live And Let Live To My Way Or The Highway?, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The United States Congress passed the Equal Access Act (EAA)¹ and forwarded it to President Ronald W. Reagan, who signed it into law on August 11, 1984.² The EAA was enacted in response to Widmar v. Vincent, ³ a 1980 Supreme Court case from higher education where the Justices ushered in a renaissance of sorts in religious liberty. In Widmar, treating religious expression as a subset of free speech,⁴ the Court ruled that officials at a state university in Missouri could not deny a Christian group access to institutional facilities so long as the university permitted other …

Free Exercise For All: The Contraception Mandate Cases And The Role Of History In Extending Religious Protections To For-Profit Corporations, 48 J. Marshall L. Rev. 605 (2015), Joseph Swee

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Substantive Due Process As A Two-Way Street: How The Court Can Reconcile Same-Sex Marriage And Religious Liberty, Mark L. Rienzi

Scholarly Articles

Last month, the potential conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty prompted death threats, arson threats, and the temporary closure of a small-town pizzeria in Indiana. The restaurant’s owner had admitted to a reporter that she could not cater a hypothetical same-sex wedding because of her religious beliefs (even though she otherwise serves gay customers in her restaurant). Threatened with violence over her unpopular religious belief, the owner was forced to close the restaurant, uncertain if she could ever reopen.

Leading up to oral argument in the same-sex marriage cases, it was reasonable to wonder whether the Indiana episode was …

Rluipa: Re-Aligning Burdens Of Proof, Clarifying Freedoms, And Re-Defining Responsibilities, George P. Smith Ii, Philip M. Donoho

Scholarly Articles

Into the breach primed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Employment Division Department of Human Resources v. Smith in 1990, Congress plunged headlong, dragging along with it a judiciary charged with enforcement of a mandate only defined ambiguously. Thus, in 2004 the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) was passed and heralded as a legislative sum certain — a “clear” articulation of Congress’ balancing of local zoning prerogative with idiosyncratic religious use. It has proved anything but; for, since its passage, the results of litigation have remained resolutely immune to coherent explanation, as the Federal Circuit courts …

Archdiocese Of Santa Fe General Chronology, Hall & Monagle, Llc

Timelines

No abstract provided.

Women And The Free Exercise Clause: Some Thoughts About A (Religious) Feminist Reading, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

Among the dozens of Supreme Court cases on the free exercise of religion, women play a mostly invisible part. We know of Adell Sherbert and Frieda Yoder; and less famously, Alma Lovell, Lillian Gobitis, Paula Hobbie, Sarah Prince, and Lucie McClure. We know that these women go out into the streets to tell the Good News, refuse to salute idols, refuse to work on the Sabbath, and refuse to go to school in violation of their religion. But, we do not hear their voices very loudly.

At the same time, until recently, we have consistently heard only one woman's voice …

The Lutheran Lawyer: Some Reflections On The Ethics Contributions Of Susan Martyn, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

Recently, Professor Susan Martyn, who is honored in this tribute issue, contributed to a forthcoming volume on Lutheran theological views of secular law of which I am co-editor. Ever the professional, Professor Martyn expressed initial uncertainty about her ability to make a contribution to this volume without more theological expertise. Not to worry, Professor Martyn's prodigious work ethic and creative lawyering produced an insightful chapter entitled, "Can Luther Help Modem Lawyers Understand Fiduciary Duty?" As it turns out, she argued, Martin Luther can help modem lawyers because he understood the ancient roots of fiduciary law that lie at the foundation …

“A Witness First Lives The Life He Proposes:” Evangelization And The Catholic Lawyer, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

This essay was presented at the lecture for legal professionals in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 21, 2015. The roots of the word evangelization are, literally, in the words that mean “to bring good news.” We live in a world that craves good news and, by virtue of our Baptism, all of us – lawyers included – are called to bring good news to a world that, despite all appearances to the contrary, aches for good news and deeply yearns to know the God from whom all good news comes, and to whom all good news leads. I am convinced that …

Pope Francis And The Vocation Of The Lawyer: Reflections On Service And Responsibility, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

Through the years, Catholic lawyers have had many opportunities and invitations to reflect on their profession as a vocation due to the guidance that can be found in Sacred Scripture, the examples of saints who were themselves members of the legal profession, the teachings of church leaders, and the insights of religious writers on the vocation of the lawyer, to name but a few.

More recently, Pope Francis has also offered guidance as to what a life in the law might mean and what might characterize the vocation to practice law today. This guidance is not to be found in …

Comments: An Easy Pill To Swallow: While The Supreme Court Found That For-Profit, Secular Companies Can Exercise Religion Within The Meaning Of The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, The Mandate Should Have Prevailed With Respect To Those Entities Because It Advances The Government's Compelling Interests In Public Health And Is The Least Restrictive Means Of Doing So, Maria Iliadis

University of Baltimore Law Review

Did you ever expect a corporation to have a conscience, when it has no soul to be damned, and no body to be kicked?

–Edward, First Baron Thurlow

Professor Greenawalt's Unfashionable Idea, H. Jefferson Powell

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Holt V. Hobbs: Rluipa Requires Religious Exception To Prison's Beard Ban, Jonathan J. Sheffield, Alex S. Moe, Spencer K. Lickteig

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Defending American Religious Neutrality, Mark Goldfeder

Scholarly Works

Scholars who write about the US Supreme Court's religious liberty jurisprudence typically lambaste the Court for its supposedly secularist or allegedly religious sympathies, or for inconsistencies in its rulings and norms. Andrew Koppelman takes a different approach in this aging but still timely book about the tradition and enduring relevance of religious "neutrality" in American constitutional law.

The Rising None: Marsh, Galloway, And The End Of Legislative Prayer, Nicholas C. Roberts

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.