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Important Cases Under Consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court

Here is a list of important Supreme Court cases that the Supreme Court should be deciding whether to hear or not in the next few weeks. Most of these cases will be denied review by the high court, but two of them have piqued the interest of the justices and look like they may be cert grants.

One case to watch is Anderson v. Durham School Department. This is a case involving the constitutionality of a Maine state program that pays for high school educations for students in rural areas with no public high schools. The program excludes funding for religious schools. The lower court upheld the state law, and the Institute for Justice appealed to the Supreme Court. The fact that the Supreme Court asked the school district to file a brief in opposition means the Supreme Court is seriously considering whether to grant cert in the case. The Supreme Court rarely, if ever, grants review in a case when no brief in opposition has been filed. So when the justices request a brief in opposition, it means they are interested.

The other case in which the Supreme Court has requested a response is Grace v. Freedom from Religion Foundation. The Solicitor General has asked the Supreme Court to grant review in the case and place tighter Article III standards on people asserting that a government program violates the Establishment Clause by funding religious groups. The Supreme Court has asked the atheist group, Freedom from Religion Foundation, to file a brief in opposition. This shows that the Supreme Court is interested in this case, too. It presents a technical issue on Article III standing, but a highly significant one. Secularist groups like the ACLU and its allies would have a tougher time filing Establishment Clause challenges to government programs because it would be more difficult for them to find plaintiffs with standing to bring the lawsuit. The fact that the Solicitor General is urging the high court to take the case is a good sign that it will do so.

Here are other cases pending before the Supreme Court in the areas of religious liberty, sanctity of life, family values and others that might be interesting. Some of these cases are set for conference for a certain date, others have yet to be set for conference (I want to thank my friend, Walter Weber, for compiling this information).

06-1 Averill Park Central School District v. Cioffi (school district challenges, under Garcetti v. Ceballos, lower court’s ruling that high school athletic director’s First Amendment claim, based on adverse action in response to his criticism of school’s handling of hazing, is actionable) [order expected Oct. 10]

06-40 Evans v. City of Berkeley (Pacific Legal Foundation petition: California Supreme Court rejected First Amendment and Equal Protection challenges to city’s revocation of free berthing privileges to Sea Scouts because Scouts refused to pledge nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation) [order expected Oct. 16]

06-132 Anderson v. Durham School Dep’t (Institute for Justice petition: constitutional challenge to exclusion of "sectarian" high schools from state tuitioning program that includes nonsectarian private high schools) [response to petition requested]

06-157 Grace v. Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. (DOJ petition: challenge to taxpayer standing of separationist group bringing suit under Establishment Clause against Executive actions promoting Faith-Based and Community Initiatives) [response to petition requested]

06-162 Cano v. Baker (Justice Foundation petition: Sandra Cano, former Mary Doe of Doe v. Bolton abortion case, seeks Rule 60(b) overturning of judgment rendered in her favor) [order expected Oct. 10]

06-163 New York City v. Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (upheld injunction barring city from dispersing homeless from steps of church; city appeals on grounds that church position "contravene[es] . . . religious doctrine of serving needy" and thus is not constitutionally protected religious conduct) [order expected Oct. 10]

06-195 Saint Matthew’s Churches, Inc. v. United States District Court for the Central District of California (Ninth Circuit denied mandamus to halt RICO claim allegedly dependent on truth or falsity of religious beliefs) [order expected Oct. 10]

06-198 Jacob v. Louisiana (First Amendment challenge to Internet obscenity conviction) [order expected Oct. 10]

06-241 Rahmani v. United States (First Amendment challenge to federal criminal ban on providing material support or resources to foreign terrorist organizations, where defendant wishes to dispute designation of recipient as terrorist organization)

06-271 Skoros v. New York City (Thomas More Law Center petition: Establishment Clause challenge to public school policy that allows display of menorah and star and crescent, but not Nativity scene)

06-300 Fields v. Palmdale School District (Liberty Counsel petition: parental rights challenge to school survey on sexual matters)

06-367 Zheng v. Gonzales (Falun Gong adherent seeks asylum on grounds of persecution for religion in China)