Prospects for Religious Liberty among President Biden’s Likely Supreme Court Picks

Feb. 17 2022

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who confirmed his pending retirement at the end of January, frequently voted in favor of religious liberty during his tenure. Together with Justice Elena Kagan, he is widely credited with pulling the court’s liberal wing toward the middle; both often rule in favor of people of faith. In evaluating potential successors to Breyer, Tanner Bean looks at the track records of three likely nominees on questions religious liberty.

A search through Judge [J. Michelle] Child’s court opinions demonstrates she has had several occasions to consider religious-liberty issues. Of these, she appears to have dealt mainly with religious-liberty claims brought by prisoners. . . . [I]n one case, where she sat as an appellate judge by special designation on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, she joined an opinion that found a prison had burdened a prisoner’s religious exercise, without justification, when he was denied a diet consistent with the teachings of the Nation of Islam.

Judge Childs has also resolved cases of religious land use and religious speech on procedural grounds. Perhaps most notably, Judge Childs authored a decision in which she extensively examined and applied the ministerial exception of the First Amendment, finding that a religious university was protected from suit by an employee Judge Childs found to be a “minister.” Her decisions set forth appropriate case law, statutes, and religious-liberty tests.

Judge [Ketanji Brown] Jackson’s court history doesn’t disclose nearly as many religion-related opinions as that of Judge Childs. However, two decisions stand out. In one, Judge Jackson found a Christian worker’s complaint about religious discrimination sufficiently alleged his work conditions were changed because he played gospel music in the workplace. In another, Judge Jackson joined a council of judges that determined an appellate-court judge did not commit misconduct when she spoke of biblical justifications for the death penalty. The appellate judge had made clear her ability to set aside her religious views when acting as a judge.

Read more at Public Square Magazine

More about: Elena Kagan, Freedom of Religion, Joe Biden, Supreme Court

Egypt Is Trapped by the Gaza Dilemma It Helped to Create

Feb. 14 2025

Recent satellite imagery has shown a buildup of Egyptian tanks near the Israeli border, in violation of Egypt-Israel agreements going back to the 1970s. It’s possible Cairo wants to prevent Palestinians from entering the Sinai from Gaza, or perhaps it wants to send a message to the U.S. that it will take all measures necessary to keep that from happening. But there is also a chance, however small, that it could be preparing for something more dangerous. David Wurmser examines President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s predicament:

Egypt’s abysmal behavior in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the dangerous smuggling of weapons, money, and materiel to Hamas built the problem that exploded on October 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it. Once exposed, rather than help Israel fix the problem it enabled, Egypt manufactured tensions with Israel to divert attention from its own culpability.

Now that the Trump administration is threatening to remove the population of Gaza, President Sisi is reaping the consequences of a problem he and his predecessors helped to sow. That, writes Wurmser, leaves him with a dilemma:

On one hand, Egypt fears for its regime’s survival if it accepts Trump’s plan. It would position Cairo as a participant in a second disaster, or nakba. It knows from its own history; King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 in part for his failure to prevent the first nakba in 1948. Any leader who fails to stop a second nakba, let alone participates in it, risks losing legitimacy and being seen as weak. The perception of buckling on the Palestine issue also resulted in the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. President Sisi risks being seen by his own population as too weak to stand up to Israel or the United States, as not upholding his manliness.

In a worst-case scenario, Wurmser argues, Sisi might decide that he’d rather fight a disastrous war with Israel and blow up his relationship with Washington than display that kind of weakness.

Read more at The Editors

More about: Egypt, Gaza War 2023