Becket Case Database

A group of homeless people sued the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, in 2018 over local laws that penalize sleeping on public property. In 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against Grants Pass, reasoning that its ...

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the federal government attempted to expand abortion access by reinterpreting an old law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). This new EMTALA guidance does something unprecedented: it requires ...

Chike Uzuegbunam, a student at Georgia Gwinnett College, was threatened with arrest for peacefully sharing his Christian faith in a campus “free speech zone.” Chike sued the school for silencing the message that Chike and his friends wanted to share ...

Title IX was enacted in 1972 to promote equality for men and women in education by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “sex.” But in May 2016, the U.S. Department of Education unilaterally...

In 2008, the federal government knowingly bulldozed a Native American sacred site to add a turn lane to a nearby highway—even though the government admitted it could have added the turn lane without harming the sacred site. The site, known ...

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the second largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, maintains “ecclesiastical stewardship” over Lutheran universities across the country that offer students a high-quality education rooted in the Church’s biblical worldview. In 2020, one of these schools (...

The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. conducts an annual holiday campaign which includes advertising on social media as well as on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s buses and Metro subway cars. But in 2017, as the Christmas season approached, ...

Every year, thousands of migrants die on the treacherous journey across the Sonoran Desert in Arizona seeking a new life in the United States. Inspired by his religious beliefs, Dr. Scott Warren joined a humanitarian ministry that leaves food, water, ...

A Hindu organization called Spirit of Aloha Temple purchased land in Maui County, Hawaii, in 2007 for religious use. Years later, the Temple wished to expand its ministry by celebrating weddings on its property, which was previously designated for agriculture. The ...

For over a decade, Becket has successfully defended the words “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why? Because the phrase “under God” answers one of the most important...

Lorie Smith started her website and graphic design business, 303 Creative, to work on projects consistent with her religious beliefs. But when a Colorado law prevented her from expanding her services to include wedding websites—since she can’t in good ...

Ever since the Supreme Court’s 1977 decision in Trans World Airlines v. Hardison severely limited protections for religious Americans in the workplace, businesses used the precedent as a license to discriminate against employees who ask for accommodations to workplace policies, ...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear shuttered in-person teaching at K-12 schools, forcing private religious schools to stop meeting in person even if they were successfully following all public health recommendations regarding masking and social distancing. At the ...

The Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas serves families—primarily mothers and children—who would otherwise be left on the street. As a ministry of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, the Respite Center provides food, clothing, medical care, ...

The Brownstown Area Ministerial Association is a coalition of Christian ministers in Jackson County, Indiana, that serves its community through prayer, fellowship, outreach, and direct aid. In 2003, BAMA purchased a nativity scene, with broad community support, to display in front ...

Santa Clara County has ordered all churches to remain closed during Lent and Easter, contrary to the United States Supreme Court’s order in South Bay Pentecostal Church v. Newsom (“South Bay II”). On February 5, the U.S. Supreme Court ...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky Governor Beshear on November 18, 2020, closed K-12 classrooms, forcing all private religious schools to engage in online-only instruction. At the same time, however, he has allowed secular institutions—like theatres, offices, and even gambling ...

The Intervarsity Christian Fellowship student group has been at the Michigan’s Wayne State University campus for over 75 years, holding Bible studies, hosting discussions on important campus issues, and providing a community for all students. Its goal has always been ...

Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC) is a Christian student organization at the University of Iowa whose mission is to form future business leaders who will integrate their religious values into the workplace. In October 2017, the University of Iowa targeted BLinC ...

For 25 years, the InterVarsity Graduate Christian Fellowship student group at the University of Iowa has held Bible studies, hosted community discussions, and supported the wider community through acts of service. InterVarsity encourages and welcomes all students to be members, and ...

Do death row inmates have the right to meet with a religious minister of their own faith in the moments before their death? This question has gone to the Supreme Court twice already this year. First, a Muslim prisoner in ...

After the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that all faiths have to be treated equally when it comes to the comfort of the clergy in the execution chamber, the Alabama Department of Corrections changed its policy from requiring a member of ...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have unnecessarily, unscientifically, and wrongly targeted Orthodox Jews for a series of shutdown orders ostensibly designed to restrict COVID-19. These orders were overbroad and targeted all members ...

The State of New York enacted a COVID vaccine mandate that has banished government employees and private healthcare workers with religious objections to the vaccine from working in their respected fields in New York and stripped them of their unemployment ...

New Jersey is home to religious schools of many persuasions, reflecting the religious diversity of the state. These schools typically ask their teachers to follow a code of conduct to uphold the schools’ religious beliefs and practices. Among those schools ...