News & Analysis as of August 9, 2025

Churches

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The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech or the press, preventing citizens from peacefully assembling, or interfering with citizens' ability to petition the government for redress of their grievances. The First Amendment is one of the most sacred aspects of the American legal tradition and has spawned a vast body of jurisprudence and commentary. less -

In-Compliance - Holtzman Vogel's July 2025 Political Law Update

Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak on 7/31/2025

Supreme Court Preview: NRSC v. FEC - On June 30, 2025, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear what may be the most significant campaign finance case since Citizens United freed corporate entities to spend...more

Religious Institutions Update: July 2023

Holland & Knight LLP on 7/27/2023

Supreme Court Decides Freedom of Speech Trumps Public Accommodations Law In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, No. 21-476 (June 30, 2023), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed 6-3 the lower courts' denial of the injunction the plaintiff...more

Religious Institutions Update: June 2018 - Lex Est Sanctio Sancta

Holland & Knight LLP on 6/8/2018

Since 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court has expressly construed a neutral law of general applicability as consistent with the free exercise clause. Deeming Colorado's public accommodations law just such a law, the Colorado Court...more

Does FEMA Unconstitutionally Deny Relief to Churches? President Trump Thinks So And He May Be Right

Jackson Walker on 9/15/2017

Hurricane Harvey’s devastation has impacted thousands of people and businesses throughout Texas. Private nonprofits and religious organizations have been playing key roles in providing emergency relief to those who have been...more

Nine Members Again, the Supreme Court Takes On Uneasy Relationship Between Church and State

Baker Donelson on 7/17/2017

On June 26, 2017, the last day of its session, the Supreme Court issued what is likely to be one of its most significant rulings this year – and possibly for years to come – in the case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia,...more

U.S. Supreme Court Forbids Exclusion of Churches from State Grant Program

Hogan Lovells on 7/5/2017

On June 26, 2017, in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, the U.S. Supreme Court held unconstitutional under the Free Exercise Clause Missouri’s refusal to award a playground resurfacing grant to a church. The...more

Supreme Court: Public Benefit Programs Cannot Exclude Churches Solely Because They Are Religious

Holland & Knight LLP on 6/28/2017

In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, No. 15-577 (June 26, 2017), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that excluding a church from a public benefit program for which it is otherwise qualified violates the Free...more

Tax-Exempt Financing of Churches, Parochial Schools and Other Sectarian Institutions After Trinity Lutheran Church: Permitted? ...

Mintz - Public Finance Viewpoints on 6/28/2017

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 26 opinion in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, precluding states from discriminating against churches in at least some state financing programs, raises anew the question of...more

The Supreme Court - June 26, 2017

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on 6/27/2017

The Supreme Court of the United States issued decisions in five cases today: California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. ANZ Securities, Inc., No. 16-373: Lehman Brothers’ collapse led to a number of securities...more

Supreme Court Decides Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, No. 15-577

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP on 6/26/2017

On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, holding that, when the government offers a public benefit to organizations that meet specified criteria, the Free Exercise...more

Watching SCOTUS – ERISA Church-Plan Exemption Revisited

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/12/2016

Seyfarth Synopsis: Currently before the Supreme Court are two petitions regarding the thorny legal question of which organizations can qualify for ERISA’s Church-plan exemption. If the Supreme Court grants certiorari and...more

Religious Institutions: September 2015

Holland & Knight LLP on 9/16/2015

Respondeat superior (literally, "let the master answer" in Latin) is a doctrine that applies when an employer or principal has the ability and authority to direct and control the pertinent acts of the employee. Put otherwise,...more

Illinois Federal Court Dismisses Some, But Not All, RLUIPA Claims

Robinson+Cole RLUIPA Defense on 8/25/2015

A federal court in Illinois, in Church of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ v. City of Markham, Illinois (N.D. Ill. 2015), dismissed some of the Church’s religious land use claims while allowing others to proceed. The case is...more

Supreme Court Decides Two First Amendment Cases

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on 7/10/2015

Two recent Supreme Court decisions provide timely guidance on the First Amendment implications of publicly displaying the Confederate Flag or other symbols or signage related to protected beliefs. First, in Walker v. Sons of...more

Arizona Town's Content-Based Sign Rules Struck Down by U.S. Supreme Court

Best Best & Krieger LLP on 7/9/2015

Local agencies urged to review sign codes in favor of content-neutral rules - The United States Supreme Court recently struck down portions of an Arizona town’s sign code that subjected ideological, political and...more

Signs Signs, Everywhere a Sign: U.S. Supreme Court Decides Reed v. Town of Gilbert

Sands Anderson PC on 6/24/2015

The Supreme Court of the United States handed down today an important First Amendment case concerning governments’ ability to regulate commonly displayed informational signs. In Reed v. Town of Gilbert,...more

Reed v. Gilbert: Impact to municipalities across the nation

Robinson & Cole LLP on 6/23/2015

Although the case is outside the RLUIPA realm or even specific to religious-based speech, the Supreme Court’s decision last week in Reed v. Gilbert will undoubtedly impact RLUIPA Defense readers. We previously reported on the...more

Supreme Court Decides Reed v. Town of Gilbert

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP on 6/19/2015

On June 18, 2015, the United States Supreme Court decided Reed v. Town of Gilbert, No. 13-502, holding that a municipal code subjecting signs to different regulations depending on whether the sign displayed an ideological...more

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