The Supreme Court on Monday issued orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The justices did not add any new cases to their merits docket for the 2022-23 term. They denied review in a case involving the right of a religious non-profit to decline to hire employees who do not share their religious beliefs, but two justices – Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas – suggested that the court should take up the question soon.
The case, Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission v. Woods, began when Matthew Woods, a former intern at a legal-aid clinic run by a religious non-profit, applied for a job as a staff attorney at the clinic. When Woods indicated that he did not attend church and that he was in a same-sex relationship, the clinic director told him that he would not be eligible for the position because it would violate the mission’s “religious-lifestyle” requirement, and his application was denied. Woods then sued the clinic, alleging that it had violated a state anti-discrimination law. The Washington Supreme Court allowed the case to go forward, prompting the clinic to come to the U.S. Supreme Court last year asking the justices to decide whether a legal-aid clinic operated by a religious non-profit can decline to hire employees who do not share its religious views, and whether the state violates the Constitution’s free exercise clause when it does not give the clinic the same exemption that it provides to small businesses. After repeatedly rescheduling the case,...
An Indian national faces multiple charges in the US for falsely claiming citizenship to vote in the 2024 elections, risking a decade in prison. Mukeshkumar Somabhai Chaudhari, an Indian national, ...