In the last several years, public interest law firms have been stacking up wins for religious liberty at the United States Supreme Court.
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In just the last term, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of religious freedom in Mahmoud v. Taylor, allowing parents to opt their children out of radical gender theory lessons that conflict with their beliefs.
In Catholic Charities v. Wisconsin, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the State of Wisconsin could not discriminate against Catholic Charities based on its theological choices.
And in the upcoming term, the Supreme Court has already agreed to hear several more cases related to religious liberty: Olivier v. City of Brandon, involving an evangelist being banned from sharing his faith in a public park; Chiles v. Salazar, in which a counselor in Colorado wants to counsel those struggling with gender identity about how to bring their issues into alignment with God’s design; First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin, about a pro-life pregnancy center being forced to release donor names and information; and Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections, which involves a lawsuit for damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA.)
Other recent wins include the Groff v. DeJoy case in 2023 where a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court strengthened legal protections for employees seeking religious accommodations and the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case in 2022 that affirmed the football coach’s right to pray on the field after the game.
Religious discrimination continues
While there seems to be momentum affirming religious liberty in the last several years at the Supreme Court, cases of religious discrimination continue to arise at the local level. MinistryWatch has reported on multiple cases of zoning ordinances and restrictions preventing churches and ministries from serving those in need in their local communities.
First Liberty Institute is a law firm “dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans.” Its Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys told MinistryWatch he continues to see many threats to religious liberty across the United States.
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He pointed to several examples. Students at an elementary school in Michigan were blocked by school officials from singing a “Christian based” song at the school talent show. Chaplain Russell Trubey was threatened with a letter of reprimand and visited by the military police because of content in his sermons. And Jocelyn Boden was fired by Bath & Body Works because she wouldn’t violate her religious beliefs by following the company’s “preferred pronoun policy.”
“There are more, of course, but the point is that wherever you might find yourself as a faithful American—at school, in the workplace, in the military, in a house of worship, or throughout the public square—government officials too often deny the promise of the First Amendment and fail to protect our first liberty,” Dys said.
Rise of public interest law firms
Public interest law firms often represent these churches and ministries pro bono — at no cost to the ministry — in order to defend their rights to put their religious convictions into practice.
Some of the most active public interest law firms in the religious liberty fights include Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the American Center for Law & Justice, Liberty Counsel, First Liberty Institute, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Thomas More Society, Pacific Justice Institute, and Christian Legal Society. Together, these groups have total revenue exceeding $220 million.
ADF is the largest by far in terms of total annual revenue at over $100 million annually. According to its website, “Alliance Defending Freedom is the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, parental rights, and God’s design for marriage and family.”
Founded in 1994 by a group of 30 Christian leaders who saw a need “to combat decades-long efforts by activists and government officials to drive expressions of faith out of the public square,” ADF has since won nearly 80% of its cases, including 16 at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Before taking a case, law firms evaluate cases based on individual facts. “Our legal intake team personally evaluates each request for legal help and may follow up with you over the phone for more information about your specific situation,” First Liberty states. “We cannot guarantee that we will be able to take every case.”
Dys said First Liberty receives many more requests each year than it can accommodate. In 2024, the group received over 2,200 requests for legal help but could only assist about 300 clients.
Part of ADF’s mission is to “pursue strategic victories that will bring lasting change in law and culture.” It receives about 6,000 requests for legal assistance each year and is active in about 1,000 legal matters. It has developed a network of 4,500 attorneys across the country and around the world to which it may refer cases.
Advice for navigating potential legal challenges
ADF doesn’t just defend ministries when they are facing a lawsuit. Through its Church and Ministry Alliance, ADF offers advice to Christian leaders about how to navigate potential legal challenges.
For instance, it advises ministries with its “Three C’s” principles to “communicate its beliefs with clarity” in both word and practice, to connect its core documents to its beliefs, and to consistently apply those beliefs.
It also has assistance specifically directed at helping pregnancy centers navigate challenges when authorities try to thwart their ability to speak about abortion pill reversal.
The ADF Church and Ministry Alliance is a fee-based membership service based on total annual revenue. For example, a pregnancy center could join for as little as $500 up to an annual membership fee of $10,000.
In reflecting on the continuing challenges in defending religious liberty across the country, Dys pointed to the original reasons the Founders included the First Amendment in the Constitution.
“[T]he natural inclination of government is to suppress the unalienable rights of the people. While we should all be thankful for the recent success religious liberty has had at SCOTUS and in so many of our cases, it should be just as concerning that Americans have had to battle for years to secure those rights clearly defined in the Constitution,” he said.
“Religious freedom is our first freedom and, yet, each year thousands of people turn to First Liberty because the government—federal, state, or local—has failed to deliver upon the simple promise of the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion.”
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