This November, the Supreme Court will take up three cases that could reshape how much protection people of faith, prisoners, and private employers receive from government overreach. Among them is a case with direct implications for religious schools and how far states can go in excluding faith-based institutions from public benefits.
Have you taken your place on the wall?
The court’s decision to hear these cases signals that questions of religious liberty and government power remain very much alive on the nation’s highest bench.
From The Epoch Times:
The court said in a new scheduling notice that on Nov. 3 it will hear St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, which is about whether Colorado may decline to fund Catholic preschools.
Colorado’s universal preschool program pays for 15 hours of free preschool per week at public or private providers. To participate, preschools must offer “equal opportunity” to sign up regardless of religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, income level, or disability.
The state permits exemptions for other groups such as low-income or disabled children but has blocked Archdiocese of Denver preschools because they require families to support Catholic teachings on sex and gender.
The case pits Colorado’s preschool funding rules against the free exercise rights of Catholic schools. The Supreme Court will weigh the dispute against two of its own precedents, Employment Division v. Smith (1990), which held that neutral, generally applicable laws do not violate the Free Exercise Clause even when they burden religious practice, and Carson v. Makin (2022), which struck down a Maine law excluding religious schools from a public benefit solely because of their religious character. While petitioners asked the court to overturn Smith outright, the justices declined that broader question and will instead consider narrower issues: how to apply Smith’s test when secular exemptions exist, and whether Carson requires stricter scrutiny only when religious exclusions are explicit.
Two other cases will also come before the court in November. On Nov. 9, the justices will hear Nielsen v. Watanabe, which asks whether a federal inmate can sue prison staff for inadequate medical care under the Bivens doctrine. The case stems from a 2021 gang riot at a federal detention center in Honolulu, where inmate Kekai Watanabe alleges a nurse denied him hospital treatment for a fractured tailbone, offering only over-the-counter medication instead. On Nov. 10, the court will hear U.S. Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards LLC, a separation of powers case testing whether federal agencies can conduct their own administrative hearings to fine employers, an issue that follows the court’s 2024 ruling in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy limiting agency enforcement power.
The St. Mary Catholic Parish case carries particular weight for people of faith. Across the country, states and municipalities have increasingly required religious institutions to compromise deeply held beliefs in exchange for access to public programs and funding. This case could determine whether Colorado, and by extension other states, can continue excluding Catholic schools from generally available benefits simply because those schools uphold biblical teaching on marriage, family, and human dignity. The outcome will shape how far the free exercise of religion extends when it intersects with government funding nationwide.
Scripture calls believers to stand firm in their convictions even when the culture and the government pressure them to compromise. As this case moves forward, it is worth remembering that religious liberty is not merely a legal protection but a gift worth defending, one that allows the church to operate according to its conscience rather than the shifting demands of the state.
How are you praying about this issue? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments below.
(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Phil Roeder – Flickr: Supreme Court of the United States, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32650356)
