The Supreme Court Is More Friendly to Religious Freedom Than Ever—and Not Just Because of Conservative Justices https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/politics-current-affairs/2021/04/the-supreme-court-is-more-friendly-to-religious-freedom-than-ever-and-not-just-because-of-conservative-justices/

April 20, 2021 | Kelsey Dallas
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According to a recent study, since John Roberts became chief justice the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of religious-liberty advocates in 81 percent of the cases it has heard—compared to a rate of about of 50 percent since the 1950s. The shift has much to do with the presence of such justices as Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito, who have an expansive view of First Amendment guarantees, but is not due to them alone, as Kelsey Dallas explains:

In nine of the thirteen cases counted as Roberts-era wins for religious freedom in the study, liberals joined with conservatives in either a seven-to-two or unanimous decision. . . . “The new conservative majority is essential to the high-profile cases, but not to all the others,” said Douglas Laycock, a professor of law and religious studies at the University of Virginia. . . . For the most part, liberal justices only peel away en masse from their conservative colleagues when religious freedom is in tension with another important human right, he said.

Richard Garnett, director of the program on church, state, and society at the University of Notre Dame, [noted that, as] recently as last year, two liberal justices, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, joined with conservatives to rule in favor of two Catholic schools wanting to sidestep employment nondiscrimination law. . . . Kagan and Breyer . . . both fall in the top half of the study’s list of the most pro-religion justices to serve since 1953. Kagan is just a few spots behind her conservative colleagues.

One thing that has changed is that recent cases are more likely to involve Christian challenges to legislation and regulation, whereas previously such litigation was domain of religious minorities. But Dallas cautions against overstating the shift:

What’s often forgotten is that Christian victories at the Supreme Court benefit more than just Christians, Garnett said. In the context of free-exercise cases in particular, precedents set by the Roberts court make it easier for members of any faith group to live out their beliefs. . . . And, despite the publicity that surrounds their lawsuits, Christians are still less likely than people of other faiths to be involved in religious-freedom battles if you look at the legal system as a whole.

Read more on Deseret News: https://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/4/17/22386257/not-just-conservatives-responsible-for-religions-supreme-court-win-streak-roberts-kavanaugh-gorsuch