Supreme Court Cases

Questions that hinge on a named Supreme Court decision, from Yick Wo to this term.

101 questions · Read opinions on Justia

Immigration & Border SecurityWhat the Bible Says About Immigrants and ForeignersThe Bible commands love and just treatment of immigrants and foreigners more frequently than nearly any other obligation.
Immigration & Border SecurityDoes the Constitution Give Due Process to All Immigrants?The Constitution explicitly protects "persons" rather than "citizens" — a deliberate textual choice in both the 5th and 14th Amendments.
Immigration & Border SecurityMass Deportations and Constitutional Due ProcessReligious traditions consistently reject treating people as categories — the moral logic that "each person is worth a world" runs across Christianity…
Immigration & Border SecurityWhat the Founding Documents Say About ImmigrationThe founding documents are clearer about immigration than the contemporary debate suggests: the Declaration listed obstruction of immigration as a tyranny…
Immigration & Border SecurityBirthright Citizenship: The 14th Amendment and Religious BelongingReligious traditions consistently teach that belonging — particularly the standing of children — is not contingent on circumstances of birth they cannot…
Immigration & Border SecurityPausing Asylum While Accelerating Removals: A 'Deny-by-Delay' System?Religious traditions are alert to the particular corruption of preserving the form of a protection while destroying its function — James 2:15-16 in…
Immigration & Border SecurityTrump v. Barbara: The Supreme Court Upholds Birthright CitizenshipReligious traditions hold that children are not punishable for their parents' actions or status.
Immigration & Border SecurityKilmar Abrego Garcia and Defying a Supreme Court OrderReligious traditions hold that the state's power to take a person from their home is among the gravest powers it possesses — and must be checked by careful…
Immigration & Border SecurityICE Raids at Churches, Schools, and HospitalsThe principle that some spaces must remain outside the immediate reach of state coercion is one of the oldest in religious tradition — built into the Torah's…
Immigration & Border SecurityDeaths and Abuse in ICE DetentionA country is judged, by every religious tradition that has thought about it, on how it treats the people it locks up — and the law judges it on whether civil…
Immigration & Border SecurityAsylum Metering at the Border: Mullin v. Al Otro LadoReligious traditions converge with unusual force on the refugee's right to ask — not to be guaranteed admission, but to be heard at the gate.
Immigration & Border SecurityEnding Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and SyriansReligious traditions are sharper about the people you have already welcomed than about the people you have not yet met — Leviticus tells you to love the…
Immigration & Border SecurityICE Shootings and Lethal Force in Immigration EnforcementBeing in the country without authorization is a civil violation. Fleeing a traffic stop is not a capital offense. Tennessee v.
Voting Rights & ElectionsFederal Voter ID Laws and the Founding DocumentsReligious traditions consistently condemn systems that apply different effective burdens to rich and poor.
Voting Rights & ElectionsDoes Gerrymandering Align with Founding Principles?Religious traditions condemn systems designed to predetermine outcomes — and gerrymandering is precisely such a system.
Voting Rights & ElectionsShelby County and the Supreme Court's Impact on the Voting Rights ActThe Voting Rights Act was the most consequential civil rights statute in American history — and the religious traditions whose moral language shaped it (the…
Voting Rights & ElectionsWhich Election Policies Best Reflect Equal Citizenship?Religious traditions affirm the equal moral standing of every person — the foundation of any concept of equal citizenship.
Voting Rights & ElectionsA Mail-Ballot Executive Order and the Elections ClauseThe argument over this executive order is not, at bottom, about mail voting — it is about who writes the rules of an election the rule-writer is in.
Voting Rights & ElectionsLouisiana v. Callais: What Is Left of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act?Every major religious tradition holds that the equal dignity of every person includes a meaningful voice in the community's decisions.
Voting Rights & ElectionsThe Mid-Decade Gerrymandering Arms RaceReligious traditions condemn the use of crooked weights and measures because they corrupt the system itself.
Voting Rights & ElectionsCourts Striking Voter Reforms but Allowing Legislative GerrymandersReligious traditions are unanimous on a narrow point: justice requires that the same standard be applied to all parties.
Voting Rights & ElectionsDHS Threats Against State Election Officials Over Voter RollsAccurate voter rolls are a legitimate goal, and no religious tradition asks a community to be indifferent to the integrity of its decisions.
Voting Rights & ElectionsBetting on Elections: Prediction Markets and the MidtermsGambling on election outcomes: what the Quran, Torah, Gospels, and Buddhist teaching say about betting, and what the Constitution and federal law say about markets that price democracy.
Democracy & Constitutional OrderPolitical Violence to Overturn Elections: January 6Religious traditions are nearly unanimous: legitimate authority should be honored, and using violence to override lawful political process is a serious moral…
Democracy & Constitutional OrderEmergency Powers: Lawful Necessity or End-Run Around Democracy?Religious traditions distinguish sharply between genuine emergencies that justify exceptional measures and manufactured emergencies used to bypass legitimate…
Democracy & Constitutional OrderPresidential Immunity and Accountability for LeadersReligious traditions across the world treat the notion of any human ruler above the law as the definition of tyranny.
Reproductive RightsWhere Religions Stand on Abortion When the Mother's Life Is at RiskOn the specific question of abortion to save the mother's life, religious traditions show much more agreement than the political debate suggests: Judaism…
Reproductive RightsWhere Religions Stand on Abortion in Cases of Rape or IncestReligious views on abortion in cases of rape or incest are more varied than political rhetoric suggests.
Reproductive RightsDo Religions See Judging Others as a Sin?Every major religious tradition identifies judging others as a moral wrong — Jesus's "judge not lest you be judged," Pirkei Avot's "do not judge your fellow…
Reproductive RightsMifepristone by Mail and the Comstock Act at the Supreme CourtOn the substantive question of abortion, religious traditions disagree — and that disagreement is part of why the policy question is so hard.
Religion & JudgmentIs Mocking Atheists or Other Religions Anti-Religious?Every major religious tradition explicitly forbids mocking or judging those of different beliefs — often more forcefully than it addresses the unbelief…
Technology & AI EthicsAI and Algorithmic Bias: Religious and Constitutional PrinciplesReligious traditions across the world treat each person as having inherent worth that cannot be reduced to demographic categories — the premise underlying…
Technology & AI EthicsDeepfakes and AI Misinformation: What Religions Teach About TruthThe prohibition on deception — particularly fabricated witness about other people — is among the most universal teachings across religious traditions.
Technology & AI EthicsPrivacy and Surveillance: Religious and Constitutional PrinciplesReligious traditions across the world treat privacy as a moral category — protecting the inner space for conscience, family, and personal life that the…
Technology & AI EthicsGeofence Warrants: Chatrie v. United StatesA geofence warrant is the modern general warrant — not aimed at a person, but at everyone who happened to be in a place.
Economic JusticeWhat Religious Teachings Say About Wealth InequalityEvery major religious tradition treats wealth as a serious moral concern and concentrated wealth as a particular danger — Jesus on the eye of the needle, the…
Economic JusticePrinciples Behind the Student Loan Forgiveness DebateReligious traditions across the world support debt relief — and Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teaching specifically endorse periodic structural debt…
Economic JusticeWorkers' Rights in Religious and Constitutional TeachingThe protection of workers — particularly timely payment of wages and protection from exploitation — is one of the most consistent ethical teachings across…
Economic JusticeTaxation and the Common GoodReligious traditions converge on a clear answer: wealth carries communal obligations, and structured systems to fulfill those obligations are morally…
Environment & ClimateWhat Religious Teachings Say About Environmental StewardshipReligious traditions across the world treat the natural world as a moral trust — humans as stewards, not owners.
Environment & ClimateClimate Change and Intergenerational JusticeReligious traditions are unusually unified on intergenerational obligation — the Indigenous Seventh Generation, Jewish l'dor v'dor , Islamic amanah …
Environment & ClimateClean Water and Air as Fundamental RightsReligious traditions across the world treat water and air as sacred shared resources — Christian creation theology, Jewish bal tashchit , Islamic communal…
Environment & ClimateAI Data Centers, Water, Power, and Eminent DomainReligious traditions teach that natural resources are held in trust for the community — not as commodities for unlimited private extraction.
Environment & ClimateShrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-EscalanteThe land-management debate is real: rural communities have legitimate grievances about decisions made far away, and reasonable people disagree about how much…
Free Speech & MediaSection 230 and Social Media RegulationReligious traditions take seriously both the duty of truthfulness and the danger of suppressing dissent — the values at the heart of the Section 230 debate.
Free Speech & MediaCancel Culture and AccountabilityReligious traditions support accountability and restoration over destruction — Christian gentleness in restoration, Jewish teshuvah , Islamic tawbah …
Free Speech & MediaBook Bans in SchoolsReligious traditions generally favor access to challenging texts — Jewish textual debate, Christian commitment to direct reading, Islamic "Iqra," Buddhist…
Free Speech & MediaFCC Pressure on Broadcast Licenses and Network SettlementsReligious traditions identify the systematic intimidation of truthful witness as the mark of corrupt authority.
Free Speech & MediaConditioning University Research Funding on Speech PoliciesReligious traditions built universities precisely because they understood that truth requires protection from political coercion.
Free Speech & MediaExecutive Order 14398: Barring DEI in Federal ContractsReligious traditions hold equal dignity and impartial treatment in genuine tension — and the people who think they have a clean answer to the DEI debate are…
Free Speech & MediaMahmoud Khalil and Free Speech for Non-CitizensReligious traditions across the board treat the persecution of unpopular speakers — particularly strangers within the community — as a marker of unjust…
Free Speech & MediaDefunding Public Broadcasting: The End of CPBReligious traditions across the world have built educational and informational infrastructure for centuries, on the principle that accessible knowledge is a…
Free Speech & MediaThe Prairieland Nine: Protest, Terrorism Charges, and NSPM-7Proportionate punishment and guilt by association: what scripture and the Constitution say about the Prairieland sentences and the NSPM-7 crackdown.
Free Speech & MediaFiring the Editors of Stars and StripesThe Pentagon's firing of Stars and Stripes journalists after critical reporting: what scripture says about truth-tellers before power and what the First Amendment protects.
Criminal JusticeThe Death Penalty in Religious and Constitutional TeachingReligious traditions are divided, but most major traditions — Jewish practice, contemporary Catholic teaching, mainline Protestantism, Buddhism, much of…
Criminal JusticePolicing and Use of ForceReligious traditions affirm both the legitimacy of public order and the obligation to limit the violence used to maintain it.
Criminal JusticeIncarceration and RehabilitationReligious traditions across the world insist on the dignity of the incarcerated and the possibility of change — Jesus identified himself with prisoners…
Criminal JusticeEnhanced Interrogation and Guantanamo DetentionThe consensus among religious traditions on torture is unusually complete — Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu teachings converge on…
Healthcare & WelfareIs Healthcare a Right or a Responsibility?Religious traditions across the world converge on healthcare as a communal moral obligation — Jesus's healing ministry and the first Christian hospitals…
Healthcare & WelfareWhat Religious Teachings Say About Social Safety NetsReligious traditions treat provision for the poor as obligation, not optional charity — Jewish gleaning laws and tzedakah , Christian early-church…
Healthcare & WelfareMental Health and AddictionReligious traditions across the world treat mental health and addiction as conditions deserving compassion and care, not moral failures deserving judgment …
Healthcare & WelfareReplacing the CDC Vaccine Advisory CommitteeMost religious traditions support vaccination as consistent with the obligation to protect life and health, while affirming substantial parental authority…
LGBTQ+ RightsThe Dignity of LGBTQ+ People in Religious TeachingReligious traditions divide substantively on LGBTQ+ questions but converge on the underlying principle of inherent human dignity — every tradition teaches…
LGBTQ+ RightsHow Religious Freedom and LGBTQ+ Rights InteractBoth religious freedom and equal dignity for LGBTQ+ individuals are constitutional values — and both are also valued in religious traditions themselves.
LGBTQ+ RightsSame-Sex Marriage: Civil Marriage vs. Religious MarriageCivil marriage and religious marriage are different things. The Constitution protects both the right of same-sex couples to civil marriage and the right of…
LGBTQ+ RightsState Restrictions on Medical Care for Transgender MinorsReligious traditions place children at the center of moral concern and grant parents primary authority over their care.
LGBTQ+ RightsThe Supreme Court on Transgender Girls in School SportsThis is one of the harder questions on this site because both sides are pointing at something real.
LGBTQ+ RightsUnited States v. Skrmetti and the Transgender Military BanReligious traditions divide on the substantive questions of gender identity. They are more unified on parental authority over medical decisions, the dignity…
EducationSchool Choice and Religious SchoolsReligious traditions universally value education and have built extensive religious educational institutions across history.
EducationTeaching History and Race in SchoolsReligious traditions place extraordinary value on accurate historical memory — Christian confession requiring honest naming of wrongs, Jewish remembrance of…
EducationPublic Funding of EducationEvery major religious tradition treats education as a religious value or obligation — Jewish communal schools since the 1st century, Islamic pioneer…
Gun Rights & ViolenceWhat Religion and the Second Amendment Say About Bearing ArmsReligious traditions support self-defense while consistently warning against weapons becoming the primary response to social problems.
Gun Rights & ViolenceSanctity of Life and Gun Violence PreventionEvery major religious tradition teaches that protecting life is a paramount duty — and extends the obligation from individuals to communities.
Gun Rights & ViolenceWhat 'Well Regulated Militia' Meant to the FoundersThe Founders explicitly wrote "well regulated" into the Second Amendment, and the historical record is clear that they meant organized, disciplined, and…
Gun Rights & ViolenceCarrying a Firearm at a ProtestA right that gets you killed when you exercise it is not a right — it is a trap. When the same government that fights for gun rights in court tells citizens…
Separation of Church & StateThe Establishment Clause and Separation of Church and StateThe Founders — many of them deeply religious — deliberately separated church and state through the First Amendment's twin religion clauses.
Separation of Church & StateA Presidential Commission Calls Church-State Separation a MythIt is true that the words "separation of church and state" are not in the Constitution — but the principle is, written three times over: no religious test…
Separation of Church & StateLifeWise Academy and Released-Time Religious InstructionReleased-time religious instruction has been constitutionally permitted since Zorach v.
Separation of Church & StateOhio HB 8: Mandatory Religious Release TimeZorach v. Clauson (1952) approved a voluntary released-time framework: schools may permit, students may attend, religious organizations may offer.
Separation of Church & StateTexas Bluebonnet Bible-Infused Reading CurriculumThe strongest historical opponents of state-taught religion have not been secularists; they have been believers — Madison, Roger Williams, the Baptists, the…
Separation of Church & StateTen Commandments in Public School ClassroomsIn 1980 the Supreme Court answered exactly this question — a state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public-school classroom — and…
Government Transparency & AccountabilityThe Epstein Files: Who Gets Protected?The law required transparency about the powerful and protection for victims. What was delivered was the opposite: victims exposed, enablers shielded.
Government Transparency & AccountabilityProtecting Whistleblowers Who Speak Truth to PowerEvery major religious tradition honors those who speak truth to power — and warns that punishing them is the mark of an unjust ruler.
Government Transparency & AccountabilityAI Mass Surveillance of CitizensReligious traditions across the board treat the dignity of human privacy as a serious moral concern — and warn that rulers who build elaborate watching…
Government Transparency & AccountabilityFISA Section 702 and Warrantless Searches of AmericansThe Fourth Amendment's central promise is that the government searches a particular person because it has a particular reason — not that it gathers…
Government Transparency & AccountabilityPresidential Profit, Memecoins, and the Emoluments ClausesReligious traditions across the world have warned for thousands of years about rulers who convert sacred trust into personal money.
Government Efficiency & Federal SpendingSchedule F and Loyalty Tests for Federal EmployeesThe civil service exists because America already tried government-by-loyalty — and it produced corruption, incompetence, and a presidential assassination.
Tariffs & International TradeTariffs and Who Bears the CostReligious traditions condemn policies that place disproportionate burdens on ordinary people while claiming to help them.
Tariffs & International TradeThe Supreme Court Strikes Down Presidential TariffsThe Constitution gives the power to tax and to set tariffs to Congress — deliberately, prominently, and as a direct lesson of the Revolution.
Tariffs & International TradeThe 2026 Trade War With CanadaA 50 percent tariff war with Canada, examined through scripture on neighbors and the Constitution's rule that Congress, not the president, holds the taxing power.
Executive Power & Checks and BalancesWhen the Executive Branch Defies Court OrdersEvery religious tradition holds that rulers are subject to law, not above it. The Constitution makes the judiciary the final interpreter of what the law…
Executive Power & Checks and BalancesPressuring the Federal Reserve ChairReligious traditions teach that honest weights and measures are foundational to a just community — and warn against those who would manipulate them for…
Executive Power & Checks and BalancesOverturning Humphrey's Executor: Firing Independent Agency HeadsHumphrey's Executor was one of the load-bearing walls of the modern administrative state — the case that let Congress design agencies (the Fed, the FTC, the…
Executive Power & Checks and BalancesBiden v. Nebraska: $430 Billion in Student Loan CancellationDebt relief is not a partisan value — every major religious tradition treats structural relief from crushing debt as a moral good, and many of the borrowers…
War Powers & Foreign PolicyDoes a 'Pause' Stop the War Powers Clock?The War Powers Resolution was Congress's answer to Vietnam — a bipartisan recognition that endless undeclared wars destroy democracies.
War Powers & Foreign PolicyDismantling USAID and the Projected Death TollReligious traditions converge with unusual unanimity: the obligation to feed the hungry and heal the sick extends across borders, and the foreseeable…
War Powers & Foreign PolicyThe Targeted Killing of Anwar al-AwlakiThe al-Awlaki case is one of the most important constitutional events of the past two decades, and one this site is applying its standards to a Democratic…
Cultural Institutions & Public MemoryDemolishing the White House East Wing for a BallroomThe White House belongs to the public; a president occupies it as a steward, not an owner.
Direct Democracy & Voter WillState Resistance to Voter-Passed Reproductive Rights AmendmentsOn the substantive question of abortion, religious traditions disagree — and that disagreement deserves respect.
Polarizing Ideologies & MovementsWhat Scripture and the Constitution Say About Christian NationalismOn the substantive religious question, mainstream Christian theology has historically been wary of merging church and state — and many of the most vocal…
Polarizing Ideologies & MovementsIdentity Politics Across the Political SpectrumReligious traditions across the world converge on the principle that every person is made in the image of God (or its tradition-specific equivalent) and that…