Kavanaugh Comes Out Strong for Religious Liberty in Comment

[Geee]

Free Beacon

Newly minted Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a comment Monday signaling his commitment to the court's pro-religious-liberty jurisprudence, a move that may signal his views on a major religion case likely to be decided later this term.

The court declined to hear two related cases—Morris County v. Freedom from Religion Foundation and The Presbyterian Church in Morristown v. Freedom from Religion Foundation—on Monday, both of which related to whether or not Morris County, N.J., could disburse funds for historical preservation to religious institutions. New Jersey state law appeared to prohibit giving public funds in this way to a religious body, but both the county and the church argued that this violated the First and 14th Amendments' prohibition on religious discrimination by states.

Kavanaugh agreed with the court's decision to decline to hear the case, noting that factual uncertainty and the recency of his colleagues' decision in Trinity Lutheran meant that neither the time nor the case was right for consideration. However, in a statement regarding the denial of certiorari, Kavanaugh and colleagues Justices Alito and Gorsuch made clear that they thought the general principle of religious non-discrimination was a well-supported and important one.

[Valin]

Quote

Issues: (1) Whether using generally available historic preservation funds to repair or restore a house of worship constitutes a “religious use” that falls outside the scope of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia Inc. v. Comer; and (2) whether the categorial exclusion of all active houses of worship from historic preservation grants violates Trinity Lutheran and the First Amendment as an exclusion based on religious

 

Oh For Crying Out Loud!!!