Supreme Court 2024-25 Term: Native sacred land, parental rights & abortion mandates Becket hosts press call to preview important religious liberty cases at the Court this term

WASHINGTON – The upcoming Supreme Court term, beginning September 30, will provide the Justices with important opportunities to safeguard religious freedom for diverse religious groups. From protecting Native American sacred land to ensuring parent’s rights in their children’s religious upbringing to nuns battling against abortion mandates, several important issues are headed to the Court. 

In Apache Stronghold v. United States, Western Apache and other Native peoples are asking the Court to protect their sacred site at Oak Flat in Arizona where they have worshipped, prayed, and performed essential religious ceremonies since time immemorial. Earlier this year, a divided panel at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stop the government from transferring Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a foreign-owned mining company that plans to turn the site into a massive mining crater, ending Apache religious practices forever.   

In Mahmoud v. McKnight, the Montgomery County, Maryland school board revoked parents’ ability to be notified and opt their elementary-age school children out of storybooks that discuss sensitive topics such as pride parades, gender transitions, and pronoun preferences. A group of diverse religious parents including Muslims, Jews, and Christians sued, but the lower courts sided with the school board. They are now asking the Court to restore their ability to guide their children’s education in accordance with their faith. 

In Diocese of Albany v. Harris, a group of religious ministries including Anglican and Catholic nuns sued New York in 2021 after it mandated that they cover surgical abortions in their health insurance plans. After state courts left the mandate in place, the Supreme Court reversed the lower courts’ rulings and told them to reconsider the case. But the state courts ignored the Supreme Court, leaving the nuns no choice but to ask the Justices to step in once again.   

In Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Catholic Charities’ service to the poor and needy was not religious, which blocked Catholic Charities from receiving a tax exemption for religious organizations. This in turn prevents Catholic Charities from opting out of the state’s unemployment compensation system and using the Church’s better system. Catholic Charities is asking the Court to protect its freedom to join the Church program.    

What:  

Preview of the SCOTUS 2024-25 term  

Who: 

Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket

When:  

Wednesday, September 4, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. ET 

  Where:  

RSVP here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yFNrVN0YSf-LQ95mcura5w  

For more information about the religious liberty cases to watch this upcoming term, read Becket’s 2024-25 SCOTUS Preview.