religious-exemption

24 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25A322 We The Patriots USA, Inc., et al v. Ventura Unified School District, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-09-19 Presumed Complete fetal-cell-lines first-amendment free-exercise religious-exemption school-attendance vaccination-mandate 1. Whether California Health and Safety Code violates Jane Doe's First Amendment right to direct her son's religious upbringing by excluding him from …
25-133 Joseph Miller, et al. v. James V. McDonald, Commissioner, New York State Department of Health, et al. Second Circuit 2025-08-04 GVR Amici (17) constitutional-law first-amendment free-exercise-clause religious-exemption secular-exemption smith-precedent 1. Whether a law that categorically disallows religious exemptions but permits secular exemptions and other comparable secular activity violates the F…
24-1186 Alvin Boone, et al. v. Illinois Department of Corrections, et al. Seventh Circuit 2025-05-20 Denied Response Waived covid-19 executive-orders mitigation-measures public-health religious-exemption workplace-safety 1. Whether Executive Orders of the Illinois Governor requesting state agencies and public employers to impose mitigation measures allegedly to prevent…
24-1114 Alicia Lowe, et al. v. Sara Gagne-Holmes, Acting Commissioner, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, et al. First Circuit 2025-04-28 Denied Response Waived civil-rights constitutional-review judicial-scrutiny litigation-sham religious-exemption vaccine-mandate (1) Whether a State may avoid judicial review of an authorizing statute that categorically prohibits religious accommodations to compulsory vaccinatio…
24A987 Joseph Miller, et al. v. James V. McDonald, Commissioner, New York State Department of Health, et al. Second Circuit 2025-04-16 Presumed Complete amish-community employment-division-v-smith first-amendment free-exercise-clause religious-exemption vaccination-mandate Question not identified.
24-319 Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, et al. v. Adrienne A. Harris, Superintendent, New York Department of Financial Services, et al. New York 2024-09-20 GVR Amici (7)Relisted (2) employment-division-v-smith first-amendment neutrality-test religious-exemption religious-organizations strict-scrutiny In 2017, New York promulgated a regulation mandating that employer health insurance plans cover abortions. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 11, § 52.1…
24-154 Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc., et al. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, et al. Wisconsin 2024-08-13 Judgment Issued Amici (43)Relisted (2) constitutional-challenge first-amendment religious-exemption religious-organization state-court tax-exemption 1. Does a state violate the First Amendment's Religion Clauses by denying a religious organization an otherwise-available tax exemption because the or…
24-113 John J. Dierlam v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, et al. Fifth Circuit 2024-08-01 Denied Response Waived affordable-care-act civil-rights-standing-mootness-due-process-janus-v constitutional-rights mootness religious-exemption standing state-actor 1) Is it a proper exercise of discretion for an Appeals Court to sanction raising the bar presented by the elements of standing and mootness to a virt…
24A90 Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, et al. v. Adrienne A. Harris, Superintendent, New York Department of Financial Services, et al. New York 2024-07-25 Presumed Complete abortion-coverage employment-regulation first-amendment free-exercise health-insurance religious-exemption Question not identified.
23A1067 Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc., et al. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, et al. Wisconsin 2024-05-30 Presumed Complete first-amendment free-exercise ministerial-exception religious-exemption statutory-interpretation unemployment-compensation Question not identified.
23-643 We The Patriots USA, Inc., et al. v. Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Development, et al. Second Circuit 2023-12-14 Denied Amici (2)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) civil-rights free-exercise generally-applicable legacy-exemptions neutral-and-generally-applicable neutral-law rational-basis religious-exemption smith-precedent smith-v-employment-division vaccination-mandate Concerned about falling vaccination rates in its schools, Connecticut repealed its 62-year-old religious exemption to its school vaccination requireme…
23-5669 Steven Grimm v. United States Ninth Circuit 2023-09-29 Denied Response WaivedIFP 18-usc-3582 2255-petition compassionate-release compassionate-relief district-court federal-prisoner first-amendment habeas-corpus religious-beliefs religious-exemption rluipa section-3582 1. Where a federal prisoner's religious beliefs prevented him from getting vaccinated, was it error for the district court to deny his motion for comp…
23-154 Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force, et al. v. Hunter Doster, et al. Sixth Circuit 2023-08-17 GVR Relisted (3) civil-rights covid-19-mandate due-process military military-vaccination mootness mootness-doctrine munsingwear-doctrine preliminary-injunction religious-exemption standing vacatur Whether, pursuant to United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36 (1950), this Court should vacate the court of appeals' judgment and remand with i…
22-461 Scott Troogstad, et al. v. City of Chicago, Illinois, et al. Seventh Circuit 2022-11-16 Denied Response Waived civil-rights covid-19 covid-19-mandate due-process employment employment-condition first-amendment religious-exemption substantive-due-process vaccination-mandate vaccine-policy I. Whether the City of Chicago violated substantive due process in requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of their emplo…
21-1143 Dr. A., et al. v. Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York, et al. Second Circuit 2022-02-16 Denied Amici (12)Relisted (10) administrative-rule covid-19 covid-vaccine-mandate employment-division-v-smith free-exercise free-exercise-clause medical-exemption religious-exemption secular-conduct vaccine-mandate Using its emergency regulatory powers, New York has imposed a COVID vaccine mandate on healthcare workers, but provided no religious exemption. Worker…
21-1003 F. F., as Parent of Y. F., et al. v. New York, et al. New York 2022-01-14 Denied constitutional-rights first-amendment free-exercise free-exercise-clause narrow-tailoring religious-bias religious-exemption school-vaccination strict-scrutiny vaccination-requirement Does New York's religious exemption repeal violate the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause because (1) either (a) it allows for secular exemptions …
21-958 A. A. v. M. A. New Jersey 2021-12-30 Denied civil-rights constitutional-rights due-process evidence-rule free-speech freedom-of-religion medical-exemption religious-exemption sincerity-test vaccination-mandate It is of national importance for this Court to determine if the sincerity of people's religious objection to vaccination should be tested and, if so…
21-144 Seattle's Union Gospel Mission v. Matthew S. Woods Washington 2021-08-03 Denied Amici (17)Relisted (9) civil-rights coreligionist-hiring employment-discrimination first-amendment free-exercise free-exercise-clause ministerial-exception religious-exemption religious-freedom religious-nonprofits standing 1. Whether the First Amendment protects the Mission's right to hire coreligionists. 2. Whether denying the Mission a total exemption the state grants…
20-1501 Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, et al. v. Shirin Emami, Acting Superintendent, New York Department of Financial Services, et al. New York 2021-04-27 GVR Amici (6)Relisted (4) abortion abortion-mandate employment-division-smith first-amendment free-exercise free-exercise-clause free-speech health-insurance religious-autonomy religious-exemption smith-v-oregon In 2017, New York promulgated a regulation mandating that employer health insurance plans cover abortions. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 11, § 52.1…
19-1053 Little Sisters of the Poor Jeanne Jugan Residence v. California, et al. Ninth Circuit 2020-02-25 GVR Response WaivedRelisted (2) affordable-care-act contraception contraceptive-coverage federal-regulation health-insurance health-plans regulatory-authority regulatory-requirement religious-exemption religious-freedom-restoration-act rfra standing Whether the federal government lawfully exempted religious objectors from the regulatory requirement to provide health plans that include contraceptiv…
19-1040 March for Life Education and Defense Fund v. California, et al. Ninth Circuit 2020-02-20 GVR Response WaivedRelisted (2) abortion administrative-law article-iii-standing civil-rights contraception contraceptive-mandate due-process federal-regulations healthcare healthcare-coverage moral-objection moral-objections religious-exemption standing 1. Whether states have Article III standing to challenge the religious and moral exemptions based on a hypothetical increase in their discretionary, v…
19-66 George Q. Ricks v. Idaho Contractors Board, et al. Idaho 2019-07-12 Denied Amici (5)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (8) civil-rights constitutional-interpretation constitutional-law employment-division-v-smith first-amendment free-exercise free-exercise-clause generally-applicable neutral-law neutral-laws religious-exemption religious-exemptions religious-freedom stare-decisis Whether the Court should revisit its holding in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), that the Free Exercise Clause generally requires no…
18A1256 George Q. Ricks v. Idaho Contractors Board, et al. Idaho 2019-06-03 Presumed Complete employment-division-v-smith free-exercise-clause generally-applicable-law neutral-law religious-exemption social-security-number Question not identified.
18-1192 The Little Sisters of the Poor Jeanne Jugan Residence v. California, et al. Ninth Circuit 2019-03-13 Denied Response Waived administrative-procedure administrative-procedure-act constitutional-rights contraceptive-coverage contraceptive-mandate government-mandate government-regulation health-care health-plans healthcare-coverage healthcare-law interim-final-rules national-importance religious-exemption religious-exemptions religious-freedom-restoration-act religious-objection standing Since 2011, the federal courts have repeatedly considered whether forcing religious objectors to provide health plans that include contraceptive cover…