Kavanaugh thinks prayer in government is OK, and here's why

From Dallas-

When Barack Obama was elected, he invited two private ministers, the Revs. Rick Warren and Joseph Lowery, to lead prayers at the inaugural ceremony. He also asked Chief Justice John Roberts to add the phrase "so help me God" to the presidential oath of office.

This prompted a lawsuit from a group of atheists, who complained the prayers and oath violated the clause in the First Amendment that bars government from establishing a religion. The case ended up in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2010, before Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The court affirmed dismissal of the case, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing. Judge Kavanaugh agreed with the decision, but not for lack of standing. Instead, he concluded that such religious references in government traditions do not violate the First Amendment. Below is an excerpt of his concurring opinion.

More here-

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/08/03/kavanaugh-thinks-prayer-in-government-is-ok-and-heres-why

Why do Catholics make up a majority of the Supreme Court?

From American Magazine-

There are nine justices on the Supreme Court, and four of them (Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor) are practicing Catholics, as is retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Conservative Neil Gorsuch was raised Catholic but reportedly attends an Episcopal church. (The other justices on the bench—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan—are Jewish.)

If confirmed, Judge Brett Kavanaugh—the second of President Trump’s nominations while in office—would become the fifth Catholic (and the 14th in U.S. history) serving on the Supreme Court.
Catholic justices are frequently nominated by Republican presidents, including Mr. Trump, George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush. The current court’s exception is Ms. Sotomayor, who was appointed in May 2009 by President Barack Obama.

More here-

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/07/18/why-do-catholics-make-majority-supreme-court

Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Trump travel ban

From CNBC-

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to fully enforce a ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries.

This is not a final ruling on the travel ban: Challenges to the policy are winding through the federal courts, and the justices themselves ultimately are expected to rule on its legality.

But the action indicates that the high court might eventually approve the latest version of the ban, announced by President Donald Trump in September. Lower courts have continued to find problems with the policy.

Opponents of this and previous versions of the ban say they show a bias against Muslims. They say that was reinforced most recently by Trump's retweets of anti-Muslim videos.

More here-

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/04/supreme-court-allows-president-trumps-travel-ban-to-go-fully-into-effect.html

U.S. Supreme Court has rejected 8 other Episcopal cases. S.C. group hopes its case is different

From South Carolina-

The U.S. Supreme Court is known for refusing to review disputed constitutional issues until the right case comes along.

For the property rights battle dividing The Episcopal Church and breakaway groups nationwide, at least eight such cases have come and gone in as many years. The court has rejected each one.

But the Diocese of South Carolina, whose split has kept about $500 million worth of historic buildings in legal limbo, is praying for an answer from Washington after the state Supreme Court ruled that 29 properties from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head belong to the national church.

Attorneys in other cases have argued, to no avail, that it’s high time for the nine justices to iron out whether constitutional provisions on religious freedom bar state laws from applying to such land disputes.

But the court’s past resistance isn’t necessarily an indicator of how the South Carolina case will play out.

More here-

http://www.southstrandnews.com/state-news/u-s-supreme-court-has-rejected-other-episcopal-cases-s/article_c70d0ffc-d31c-11e7-a86b-bb9127d19f3b.html

Diocese of South Carolina petitions U.S. Supreme Court, files new lawsuit

From South Carolina-

The Diocese of South Carolina, which left The Episcopal Church in 2012 after years of theological conflict and governing disputes, announced Nov. 21 that it would petition the U.S. Supreme Court in the hopes of reversing a S.C. Supreme Court ruling that would force the diocese to return properties worth millions of dollars.

The state Supreme Court recently denied the diocese's motion for a rehearing of the contentious case. Over the years, the nation's highest court has refused to consider other cases involving Episcopal Church disputes. Most of these cases involving dissident "orthodox Anglicans" have been decided in favor of The Episcopal Church.

Also on Nov. 21, the disassociated diocese filed a new lawsuit in Circuit Court — the same venue that heard the diocese's original suit and ruled in its favor — seeking compensation for building improvements made to many parishes over the years.

More here-

http://www.southstrandnews.com/news/diocese-of-south-carolina-petitions-u-s-supreme-court-files/article_c4f116ce-cfb5-11e7-b397-c7558c81ab69.html

Evangelicals and the Supreme Court

From Colorado Springs-

Some of us are curious about Neil Gorsuch’s religious convictions.

The new Supreme Court Justice was raised Catholic, but he now attends Episcopal worship services. Is that evidence that he now thinks of himself as a Protestant? Well, it isn’t clear. His wife is a devout Anglican—they met when he studied in England—and he may be accommodating himself to her Protestant preferences while still nurturing strong Catholic convictions.


Why the curiosity about this? It isn’t as if knowing the answer will add anything interesting to what we already know about his judicial philosophy.

The curiosity has to do with a minor historical point that is of interest mainly to folks like me, who actually go through the periodic reports listing the religious affiliations of members of Congress.

More here-

http://gazette.com/evangelicals-and-the-supreme-court/article/1602786

The historic shift in the US Supreme Court’s religious makeup (plus or minus a Gorsuch)

From Quartz-

US Supreme Court justices are secular clerics of the highest order. The Constitution is their guiding document—a set of basic commandments—and textual analysis is their practice, used to dissect thorny moral issues. All share a reverence for the law: It would be impossible to get the gig without a religious devotion to its rule.

Still, a shift in the religious backgrounds of justices in recent years arguably represents a dramatic change in American culture. There is no religious test for Supreme Court justices, nor any requirement that the bench represent the makeup of the nation. Yet it’s notable that court has gone from all-Protestant origins to now mostly-Catholic, with one third of the bench Jewish.

More here-

https://qz.com/972686/the-religions-of-the-us-supreme-court-justices-tell-the-tale-of-a-changing-nation/

Judge Gorsuch’s Episcopalianism a concern to conservatives

From Episcopal Cafe-

As we reported previously, Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neal Gorsuch has been attending Episcopal churches for much of his adult life. This has been the source of some concern for conservative Christian leaders, given the Episcopal Church’s more liberal stance on issues such as abortion and equal marriage rights. Gorsuch himself has remained adamant that his personal feelings and beliefs should not be relevant. He feels that judges should interpret the law on the basis of the text, not on their own personal morality. “My personal views, as I hope I have made clear, have nothing to do with the case before me in any case,” he said. “The litigants deserve better than that, the law demands more than that.” Gorsuch was raised Roman Catholic, but has attended Episcopal churches since he married his wife, a member of the Church of England, whom he met while studying at Oxford. As a result, some conservative pundits suspect Gorsuch of being a secret liberal. Bryan Fischer, of the American Family Radio Network, tweeted, “Be advised, Gorsuch attends a church that is rabidly pro-gay, pro-Muslim, pro-green, and anti-Trump.”

More here-

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/judge-gorsuchs-episcopalianism-a-concern-to-conservatives/

What is Neil Gorsuch's religion? It's complicated

From CNN-

Earlier this month, the Trump administration summoned two dozen religious leaders to a private meeting. The mission: to rally support for Neil Gorsuch, Trump's Supreme Court nominee.

According to several participants, White House staffers emphasized Gorsuch's robust defense of religious rights as a judge on the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals. In one prominent decision, Gorsuch argued that the government should rarely, if ever, coerce the consciences of believers.
Eventually, the conversation turned to Gorsuch's own religious background.

He was raised Catholic but now worships with his wife and two daughters at St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder, Colorado. Like the city, the congregation is politically liberal. It bars guns from its campus and installed solar panels; it condemns harsh rhetoric about Muslims and welcomes gays and lesbians. And its rector, the Rev. Susan Springer, attended the Women's March in Denver, though not as a form of protest but as a sign of support for "the dignity of every human being."

More here-

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/18/politics/neil-gorsuch-religion/

Is New York Times signaling that SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch is pro-homosexual?

From Life Site-

Is the New York Times signaling that Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch is pro-homosexual, in the same way that it reported that then-Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos was a friend of “LGBT rights”?

Conservatives and same-sex/transgender activists are debating the significance of a Feb. 11 article by veteran Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg. It reports that in his personal relationships with homosexual friends and co-workers, Judge Gorsuch has been very approving of homosexual relationships.

Gorsuch also attends a socially liberal Episcopal church in Boulder, led by a pro-LGBT female pastor, Rev. Jill Springer, who reportedly supports homosexual “marriage.”

The Gorsuch confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin Monday, March 20.

More here-

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/is-new-york-times-signaling-that-scotus-nominee-neil-gorsuch-is-pro-homosex

Episcopal Church Leaders Signal Support for Transgender Student in Supreme Court Case

From Christian Post-

Among the briefs submitted in support of Grimm on Thursday was one that included as signatories a number of leaders from Mainline American Christian denominations, including leaders in the Episcopal Church and United Church of Christ.

The brief was signed by the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop the Rev. Michael Bruce Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, the president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies.

Both Curry and Jennings serve as the presiding officers of the Episcopal Church's General Convention and are the chair and vice chair of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council who presided over the Episcopal Church's decision in 2016 to adopt a resolution affirming its support for laws that prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression and opposition to legislation that would take away discrimination protections for transgender individuals.

Read more at-

http://www.christianpost.com/news/episcopal-church-leaders-signal-support-for-transgender-student-in-supreme-court-case-176566/

Nearly 2,000 Religious Leaders Declare Support For Transgender Teen In Supreme Court Case

From Huffington-

More than 1,800 religious leaders threw their support behind a transgender student’s Supreme Court case on Thursday.

They argue that equal treatment for transgender individuals, like Virginia teen Gavin Grimm, does not threaten religious liberty.

Grimm is fighting for the right to use the high school restroom that aligns with his gender identity. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral argument in his lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board at the end of March.

In an amicus brief filed Thursday afternoon, 15 religious organizations and more than 1,800 individual faith leaders backed Grimm. Clergy from the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism were among those who signed the brief.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/religious-leaders-transgender-supreme-court_us_58b8848be4b0b99894160beb

also here-

http://religionnews.com/2017/03/02/nearly-2000-clergy-faith-leaders-sign-amicus-brief-in-support-of-transgender-protections/

Judge Neil Gorsuch's Anglicanism is still a mystery that journalists need to solve

From Get Religion-

It’s been about three weeks since Neil Gorsuch has been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court and we’re no closer to figuring out what makes him tick, spiritually. However, there have been a few jabs at trying to gauge the spiritual temperature of his family's parish in downtown Boulder, Colo..

The most aggressive reporting has been by a British outlet, the Daily Mail, whose reporters have shown up at Gorsuch’s parish, St. John’s Episcopal. The Mail has also been sniffing about Oxford University (pictured above), which is where Gorsuch apparently became an Anglican during his studies there. It was also where he met his future wife Marie Louise. Her family is Anglican and the Mail explains that all here and here.

Very clever of them to nail down his wife’s British background and that of her family and to have interviewed Gorsuch’s stepmother in Denver.

They too see a dissonance in Gorsuch’s purported conservative views and the church he attends:.

More here-

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2017/2/22/judge-neil-gorsuchs-anglicanism-is-still-a-mystery-that-journalists-need-to-solve

Is Gorsuch a secret liberal? Trump, GOP have reason to wonder.

From The Hill-

Gorsuch lives in the ultra-liberal college town of Boulder, Colorado.  He also teaches at the University of Colorado’s law school, also a progressive bastion, and is supported in his quest for the Supreme Court by most of the faculty and students there.

Gorsuch is also a member of the St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boulder.  The Episcopal Church has embraced very liberal positions on a variety of issues, including performing same-sex commitment ceremonies since the 1980s and eventually same-sex marriages. At church, he often hears a very liberal point of view. 

Mike Orr, a spokesman for the Episcopal Church in Colorado, described Gorsuch’s church, as a congregation that “does a lot of social justice and advocacy.” He said, “It’s a healthy and vibrant congregation. It’s very diverse in its congregants as well as its ministry.”

More here-

https://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-judiciary/318565-could-court-pick-gorsuch-be-a-crypto-liberal-conservatives

Neil Gorsuch belongs to a notably liberal church — and would be the first Protestant on the Court in years

From The Washington Post-

The day after Donald Trump was elected president, the Rev. Susan Springer wrote to her congregation that they should strive to behave as Godly people who spread hope even though “the world is clasping its head in its hands and crying out in fear.”

That Sunday, one of the ushers at Springer’s church was Neil Gorsuch — soon to become President Trump’s nominee for the open spot on the Supreme Court.

Gorsuch has staked his own conservative positions on numerous issues, including topics of religious concern: In cases involving the art supply chain Hobby Lobby and the Catholic order Little Sisters of the Poor, both of which eventually reached the Supreme Court, Gorsuch ruled in favor of religious conservatives who said the Affordable Care Act infringed on their religious freedom to not pay for contraception.

More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/02/01/neil-gorsuch-belongs-to-a-notably-liberal-church-and-would-be-the-first-protestant-on-the-court-in-years/?utm_term=.f8918f198005

Trump's Supreme Court Pick: Religious Freedom Defender Neil Gorsuch

From Christianity Today-

President Donald Trump named Neil Gorsuch, a conservative, Ivy League-educated federal judge known for his way with words and defenses of religious freedom, as his Supreme Court nominee during a live broadcast Tuesday night.

A favorite pick among Christian conservatives, Gorsuch fulfills Trump’s promise to select a judge that “evangelicals, Christians will love” and who also stands a solid chance of scoring Senate approval. (Gorsuch’s federal appointment by President George W. Bush in 2006 was uncontroversial.)

“Judge Gorsuch’s combination of intellectual horsepower and work ethic has enabled him to excel academically at the world’s best universities, become a first-rate lawyer and judge, and develop remarkable verbal abilities,” said Robert Pushaw, a constitutional law expert and professor at Pepperdine University School of Law.

More here-

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/january/trump-nominates-neil-gorsuch-supreme-court.html

5 faith facts on Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch

From RNS-

President Donald Trump has announced Neil Gorsuch of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as his Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February.

Here are five faith facts about Gorsuch:
1. Gorsuch, 49, now attends an Episcopal church, but he attended Catholic schools.

He studied at the Jesuit-run Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md., while his mother, Anne Gorsuch, served as President Ronald Reagan’s administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. After college and law school at Columbia and Harvard respectively, Gorsuch clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is Catholic. Gorsuch, his wife and two daughters attend St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boulder, Colo.

More here-

http://religionnews.com/2017/01/31/5-faith-facts-on-the-presumed-supreme-court-nominees/

Abortion case at Supreme Court gets personal

From USA Today-

Those telling their stories generally became pregnant while attending prestigious universities such as Harvard and Stanford, a way station to their successful careers. Had they not decided on abortions, they said, their lives would have been changed forever by a single mistake.

"If the Reverend Anne Fowler had not had access to an abortion when she accidentally became pregnant after enrolling in Divinity School, she would never have been able to graduate, to serve as a parish rector, or to help the enormous number of people whose lives she has touched," the brief says of an Episcopal priest who had an abortion in 1981, before she was married.

Others went on to become a professor, a neuropsychologist, a childhood education specialist and a doctor whose willingness to perform abortions led her to wear a bulletproof vest on her way to and from work.

More here-

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/05/abortion-supreme-court-choice-women-kennedy/78304022/

Supreme Court cases prelude to marriage debate at General Convention

From ENS-

Episcopalians who followed the April 28 U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments on whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to be married were no doubt looking ahead to the implications of the court’s eventual ruling for this summer’s General Convention.

The Episcopal Church officially has advocated for equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in both the civil and ecclesial arenas for years. However, it was not until 2012 that the General Convention voted to consider anew the church’s theology of marriage, and LGBT Episcopalians’ access to the sacramental rite.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/04/28/supreme-court-cases-prelude-to-marriage-debates-at-convention/

Supreme Court to rule on same-sex marriage

From San Francisco-

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to rule on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, a step it refused to take less than two years ago when it let stand a federal ruling allowing those unions in California but declined to make marriages between gay and lesbian couples legal throughout the land.
Now that 36 states and the District of Columbia, holding about three-fourths of the country’s population, permit same-sex marriages, legal experts believe the high court is ready to settle the matter once and for all.

Faced with a split in the appellate courts, the justices will hear 2½ hours of oral arguments in April and issue a ruling before the court term ends in June.

More here-

http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Supreme-Court-to-rule-on-same-sex-marriage-6020899.php