A vacated ruling and a sharp dissent reopen a fight over religious groups' hiring rights
A federal appeals court will rehear a religious organization's case against Washington State officials before its full bench - and three judges objected.
In an order filed June 18, 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed to rehear a religious organization's lawsuit against Washington State officials before its full bench - a step lawyers call rehearing en banc. In the same order, the court vacated the opinion its three-judge panel had issued earlier in the case. That panel decision no longer stands.
The plaintiff is Union Gospel Mission of Yakima Washington, a religious organization. It sued the Washington State Attorney General, Nick Brown, along with five officials of the Washington State Human Rights Commission - its executive director and four commissioners. Every defendant was named in an official capacity, meaning they were sued as office-holders, not as private individuals.
The order itself was short. The court did not lay out its reasoning or hint at how it will rule. For employers, the practical message is narrow but real: the panel's earlier ruling is gone, and the underlying legal question is open once again.
The sharper signal came from the dissent. Judge Bumatay, joined by Judges VanDyke and Tung, objected to the decision to rehear the case. The three judges wrote that the court had "relegated religious liberty to a second-class right." They warned it...
US President Donald Trump resurrected long-debunked claims about fraud and foreign interference in the 2020 election, alleging in a July 16, 2026 primetime address that China stole millions of vote...