Cases - Becket

Appeals court protects historic Los Angeles cross and nativity

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Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm v. Letitia James

For generations, Catholic healthcare ministries have cared for the sick, the elderly, and the dying across New York. Guided by the belief that every life is a precious gift, these ministries accompany those nearing death with medical skill, prayer, and ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom, Religious Communities

Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm v. Prince

For nearly 175 years, Catholic healthcare ministries have cared for the sick, the elderly, and the dying across Illinois. Guided by the belief that every life is a precious gift, these ministries accompany those nearing death with medical skill, prayer, and ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom, Religious Communities

National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, Inc. v. Shellem

Families across Oklahoma need better educational options for their children. The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation wants to help meet this need by joining Oklahoma’s charter school program and offering families a rigorous, values-based education that integrates ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
Practice Area(s):: Education

Ali v. Vohra

Muslim physicians have been healing the sick and advancing medicine for over a thousand years. Today, Muslim doctors across Illinois continue that legacy, guided by their belief that life is a blessing granted by Allah and by the Qur’an’...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

International Partners for Ethical Care v. Ferguson

Washington state requires youth shelters to hide a runaway child’s whereabouts from parents when the child seeks a “gender transition,” then allows state officials to steer the child toward transition services and delay any return home. When concerned parents ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Parental Rights

Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. Board of Education of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District

Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) clubs—called “Huddles”—have empowered generations of students to freely live out their faith and serve all students on their campuses. In New Jersey’s Hopewell Valley school district, FCA Huddles met for years with ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
Practice Area(s):: Education, Religious Communities

Grand v. City of University Heights

Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jew, invited a small group of friends to pray in his home in University Heights, Ohio. Almost immediately, the city sent Grand a cease-and-desist letter demanding that he obtain a special permit. After Grand applied for ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Property Rights, Public Square

St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy

Colorado parents Dan and Lisa Sheley are raising their seven children in the Catholic faith. In 2022, Colorado promised families “universal” preschool funding—worth more than $6,000 per eligible child—to use at the public, private, or faith-based preschool of their choice. ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Education, Religious Communities

Gerritsen v. City of Los Angeles

As the historic heart of the City of Los Angeles, El Pueblo Historical Monument draws millions each year to its Olvera Street market, historic buildings, and cultural celebrations rooted in the area’s unique Mexican-American heritage. But now a local ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Public Square

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship v. SUNY Broome Community College

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is a nationwide ministry with student organization chapters that serve on local colleges and universities, bringing students together for Bible study, prayer, and worship. InterVarsity welcomes all students to participate in its chapters. And it asks its ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York
Practice Area(s):: Education, Religious Communities

Belya v. Metropolitan Hilarion

Father Alexander Belya, a defrocked priest in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), lost his bid to become bishop after Church leaders found him unqualified and suspended him pending an internal investigation. Rather than submit to investigation, Father ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association

The state of California has been forcing religious objectors to speak. Religious groups like the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) and members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church...

Case Status:: Lost
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Free Speech

Union Gospel Mission of Yakima v. Brown

For nearly a century, Union Gospel Mission of Yakima has put its Christian faith into action by serving people facing homelessness, hunger, addiction, and illness across central Washington. To carry out that essential work, the Mission asks all its employees ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

Taylor v. Sunnyvale School District

Justin and Rose Taylor are religious parents whose young children attend public elementary school in Sunnyvale, California. When their local school district began using controversial instruction around gender and sexuality that conflicts with the family’s faith, the Taylors did ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Practice Area(s):: Education, Parental Rights

Little Sisters of the Poor v. Azar

In August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a federal mandate that required employers to provide services like the week-after pill in their health insurance plans, free of cost. The mandate did not exempt religious non-profits with religious ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom, Religious Communities

Sisters of Mercy v. Becerra

A federal mandate issued in 2016 required doctors to perform gender transition procedures on any patient, including a child, even if the doctor believed the procedure would be harmful. The mandate was struck down in court after it was challenged by ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

Little Sisters of the Poor v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

For over a decade, the Little Sisters of the Poor have been prevailing in court against a federal mandate that would force them to either provide contraceptives in their healthcare plan or pay tens of millions of dollars in fines. ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

St. Dominic Academy v. Makin

For decades, Catholic schools like St. Dominic Academy offered rural families a vital education through Maine’s tuition assistance program. But in 1982, the state barred all religious schools. Though the Supreme Court overturned this ban in 2022, Maine preemptively revised its ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First District
Practice Area(s):: Education

West Virginia v. B.P.J.

West Virginia passed the Save Women’s Sports Act to ensure girls’ athletic teams remain based on biological sex—preserving fairness, safety, and equal opportunity for female athletes. A federal appeals court blocked the law from taking effect after a ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

McCullen v. Coakley

Eleanor McCullen has spent decades exercising her religion by offering help and support to women in need outside of abortion clinics. Knowing that women often have abortions when they feel they have no place to turn for love and support, ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Free Speech, Individual Freedom

Rolovich v. Washington State University

Nick Rolovich is a college football coach and practicing Catholic. He served as head coach of the Washington State University (WSU) Cougars for nearly two seasons, where he earned respect for his leadership, work ethic, and commitment to his players ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

Mahmoud v. Taylor

In 2023, Maryland’s Montgomery County Board of Education took away parental notice and opt-outs for storybooks that promote gender transitioning, Pride parades, and pronoun preferences to children as young as three and four. A coalition of religious parents, including Muslims, ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Education, Parental Rights

Johnson v. Fleming

For over 250 years, since before our nation even became a nation, military chaplains have helped American servicemembers access their faith wherever duty takes them. Indeed, the constitution requires federal and state governments to provide and support military chaplains to protect ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom, Public Square

Brandon v. Board of Education of the City of St. Louis

In 2021, St. Louis Public Schools imposed a COVID vaccine mandate on all employees. The school district assured employees they could seek exemptions for religious or medical reasons—but in practice, it denied every religious exemption request it received while granting ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

Individual Members of the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana v. Anonymous Plaintiff 1

Religious believers of many faiths have been protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which Congress passed with overwhelming support in 1993 to ensure that the federal government cannot unreasonably violate Americans’ religious freedom. Since then, many states have adopted ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: Indiana Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):

Lasche v. New Jersey Department of Children and Families

Mike and Jen Lasche are a loving Christian couple with a passion for helping children in need. For over ten years, they served as foster parents in New Jersey, offering love, support, and stability to vulnerable kids. Unfortunately, in 2018, the ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops v. O’Connell

Catholic faithful worldwide have given annually to directly support the Pope and his charitable works for over a millennium. This annual donation is known as Peter’s Pence, after Saint Peter, and it helps support the Pope’s ministry. In 2020, ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

MoChridhe v. Academy of the Holy Angels

For over 175 years, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has operated Catholic schools to provide students with an excellent education rooted in the Catholic faith. To accomplish this mission, the Archdiocese asks the school’s personnel to uphold basic ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: Minnesota Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

McMahon v. World Vision

World Vision is a Christian ministry dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable children and families around the globe. To carry out this life-saving mission, World Vision asks all its employees to uphold its religious beliefs in word and deed. ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

Town of Greece v. Galloway

In the town of Greece, New York, legislative meetings are commenced with a prayer led by volunteers from a wide variety of faiths—from Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, to leaders from the Bahá’í and Wiccan traditions. This practice of legislative ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Public Square

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops v. EEOC

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is a federal law designed to protect expecting mothers in the workforce so that they can have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. But a federal agency hijacked the law to impose an abortion ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Practice Area(s):

Fitzmaurice v. City of Quincy

The City of Quincy, Massachusetts, is building a new public safety headquarters for its police and fire departments. As part of the design, the city planned to install statues of Michael the Archangel and Florian, two figures with deep significance ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Practice Area(s):: Public Square

First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Davenport

First Choice Women’s Resource Centers is a pro-life, Christian ministry in New Jersey that offers free counseling, medical services, and material support to women facing unplanned pregnancies. In 2023, New Jersey tried to force First Choice to disclose how it ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

Third Church of Christ, Scientist v. District of Columbia

After years of litigation, Washington DC’s Third Church of Christ, Scientist finally won its battle with DC preservationists, and will soon enjoy a new church building. Its previous building was an...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Practice Area(s):: Property Rights

Chiles v. Salazar

Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of children identifying as transgender. Many of these children have been led down a path of “gender transition”—enduring a regime of drugs, hormones, and surgeries that often results in profound ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Free Speech, Individual Freedom, Parental Rights

Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety

Damon Landor’s religious dreadlocks, a crucial symbol of his Rastafarian faith, were forcibly shaved by Louisiana prison officials while he was imprisoned. After being released, Landor sued for money damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

Burke v. Mahaniah

Mike and Kitty Burke are a loving couple from Massachusetts who want to welcome children into their family. They applied to become foster parents to care for vulnerable children in need of a loving home like theirs. Unfortunately, the Burkes ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

Mirabelli v. Bonta

California requires its public schools to hide children’s expressed transgender status at school from their parents and to facilitate those children’s transitions regardless of their parents’ religious beliefs. Religious parents and teachers challenged this policy after families learned ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Parental Rights

Dumont v. Lyon

Nationwide, we face a crisis-level shortage of families willing to foster and adopt. But in 2017, the ACLU sued the State of Michigan to shut down its partnerships with faith-based foster and adoption agencies, putting at risk thousands of children who ...

Case Status:: Dismissed
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: Eastern District Court of Michigan
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom, Public Square

St. Vincent Catholic Charities v. Ingham County Board of Commissioners

For more than 40 years, St. Vincent Catholic Charities has been resettling refugee adults and families in the Lansing, Michigan area. St. Vincent helps refugees obtain housing, get needed medical care, find jobs, and build new lives safe from the dangers ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: Western District of Michigan
Practice Area(s):: Free Speech, Public Square, Religious Communities

Hussey v. City of Cambridge

Americans do not forfeit their First Amendment rights when they come to work for the government—and particularly not when they speak as private citizens outside the workplace. Yet governments across America have fired employees for expressing their political and ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Free Speech

Roake v. Brumley

A new Louisiana law requires state public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Schools have broad flexibility in designing the displays, and no public funds are needed for their installation. This kind of passive religious symbolism in the public ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Practice Area(s):: Education, Parental Rights

Diocese of Albany v. Harris

In 2017, New York state mandated that employers pay for abortions in their employee health insurance plans. That included churches, soup kitchens, and nuns. Following the order, a diverse coalition of religious groups that includes contemplative goat-herding Anglican nuns asked the ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: New York Court of Appeals
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom, Religious Communities

Lorenzo v. San Francisco Zen Center

Religious groups should be free to choose and govern their ministers without government interference. But a California court has weakened that protection by letting a wage-and-hour lawsuit against San Francisco Zen Center move forward, forcing religious groups into piecemeal litigation ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: California Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

Negusie v. Mukasey

Daniel Negusie, an Eritrean Christian, was imprisoned in inhumane conditions for his refusal to serve in his country’s military. While in prison, he was punished and threatened with death for his...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Individual Freedom

Southern Methodist University v. South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church founded Southern Methodist University (SMU) in 1911 to carry out its religious mission and ensured in SMU’s governing documents that the Church would continue to oversee SMU. For over a century thereafter, the Church played a ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Amicus
Deciding Court:: Texas Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

East Texas Baptist University & Houston Baptist University v. Azar

When a government mandate threatened their Baptist beliefs, two Texas universities were forced to court to defend their religious freedom. The 2011 HHS Mandate forced religious non-profits like the to either violate their faith-driven mission by providing services, such as the ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Education, Individual Freedom, Religious Communities

Reaching Souls International, Inc. v. Azar

In August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a federal mandate that required employers to provide services like the week-after pill in their health insurance plans. The mandate forced evangelical Christian ministries like Reaching Souls International, Truett-McConnell College, ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. Supreme Court
Practice Area(s):: Education, Individual Freedom, Religious Communities

Garner v. Southern Baptist Convention

Churches strive to protect their flocks from wayward shepherds. And many religious organizations require their cooperating churches to take that duty seriously. That’s true here, where the Southern Baptists Convention (SBC) requires cooperating churches to align with its Biblical ...

Case Status:: Active
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: Supreme Court of Tennessee
Practice Area(s):: Religious Communities

Loe v. Jett

Minnesota created the Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program nearly 40 years ago to encourage and enable high school students to earn college credit tuition-free. Since 1985, the program has allowed thousands of students to enroll at universities throughout the state and ...

Case Status:: Won
Becket Role:: Counsel
Deciding Court:: U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
Practice Area(s):: Education