Category: Free Exercise Clause

“Churches’ Bill of Rights” from Ind. Att’y Gen. & Lt. Gov.

On May 14, 2025, Indiana’s Attorney General Todd Rokita and its Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith jointly released a “Churches’ Bill of Rights: A Legal Guidebook.” The 30-page resource (available to download here) collects legal principles related to churches’ tax exemptions, speech protections, freedom to worship and live out religious principles, eligibility for government benefits, and governance. It also contains some guidance on public health and safety, some of which apply to religious individuals rather than churches. It explains Indiana and federal principles in a question-and-answer format. And it includes an appendix collecting Indiana and federal constitutional, statutory, and regulatory provisions.

This guidebook updates a letter Attorney General Rokita issued in 2024 ahead of that year’s election, which focused on tax exemption and advocacy. (Available here.)

The guidebook is a good resource for Indiana religious organizations as a starting point to understand their distinctive treatment under state and federal law. It is not a comprehensive collection of all legal principles that treat religious organizations or individuals distinctively, nor is it a replacement to professional legal or tax advice.

Wis. Ct. App.: Church Daycare Cook Cannot Sue Based on Prohibition against Cohabitation

Wis. Ct. App.: Church Daycare Cook Cannot Sue Based on Prohibition against Cohabitation. The cook had signed a “Statement of Affirmation and Agreement” that prohibited cohabitation with “members outside of marriage.” When the church informed her that it could not permit her to continue living with her boyfriend, she quit and later sued. The court affirmed an employment commission’s decision based on, among other reasons, its determination that the cook resigned, so the church did not take an adverse employment action against her. The Christian Post reports on the decision here. Read the per curiam decision from a three-judge panel here.

W. Dist. N.C.: Religious Pro-Life Demonstrators may proceed in challenge to COVID Order on religious, not free-speech grounds

W. Dist. N.C.: Religious Pro-Life Demonstrators may proceed in challenge to COVID Order on religious, not free-speech grounds. The court granted a motion to dismiss Global Impact Ministries, Cities4Life, and Cities4Life’s president’ claims against Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, to the extent they were based on the First Amendment’s Free Speech clause. But it allowed the prochoice group to proceed in its challenge based on the Free Exercise clause, pointing to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the government’s permitting secular activities during the relevant period. Religion Clause has more details here. Read the order here.

N.D. Ga.: Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine bars court from deciding “representative status” in Bishop’s suit seeking indemnification of legal fees

N.D. Ga.: Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine bars court from deciding “representative status” in Bishop’s suit seeking indemnification of legal fees. The Church Litigation Update covers the case, Kawimbe v African Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc., Opinion and Order (N.D. Ga. Aug. 27, 2021), here. You can read the decision here.

W.D. N.C.: Catholic high school liable for firing teacher in same-sex marriage

W.D. N.C.: Catholic high school liable for firing teacher in same-sex marriage. The court rejected defenses based on the First Amendment—including the Ministerial Exception— Title VII, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, among others. Religion Clause reports on the decision here. Read the decision here: Billard v. Charlotte Catholic High School, (W.D. N.C., Sept. 3, 2021).