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Supreme court rules in favor of coach fired for praying
The supreme court has started to release its next round of decisions, and the first case is Kennedy v Bremerton School District.
The case focuses on Joseph Kennedy, a football coach at a public high school who lost his job after repeatedly praying with some of his players after games.
In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservatives ruled that the school district had violated Kennedy’s First Amendment rights by terminating his employment.
“The Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance from government reprisal,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the opinion.
“The Constitution neither mandates nor permits the government to suppress such religious expression.”
The supreme court issued two more decisions – in Concepcion v United States and Xiulu Ruan v United States – and has wrapped up its announcements for the day.
The court has still not announced its decisions in major cases involving the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory powers and the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy for migrants seeking to enter the US.
As of now, the court has not yet said when its next decision day will be, so it’s unclear when the country might learn about the outcome of those significant cases.
The blog will have more analysis of Kennedy v Bremerton School District coming up, so stay tuned.
The supreme court’s three liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer – filed a dissenting opinion to conservatives’ decision in Kennedy v Bremerton School District.
In the dissent, Sotomayor argues that conservatives’ ruling for Kennedy, a football coach fired for publicly praying after games, ignores the establishment clause of the US constitution.
The establishment clause stipulates that the government cannot “establish” a religion, in order to protect the separation of church and state.
“Official-led prayer strikes at the core of our constitutional protections for the religious liberty of students and their parents, as embodied in both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” Sotomayor writes.
“The Court now charts a different path, yet again paying almost exclusive attention to the Free Exercise Clause’s protection for individual religious exercise while giving short shrift to the Establishment Clause’s prohibition on state establishment of religion.”
Supreme court rules in favor of coach fired for praying
The supreme court has started to release its next round of decisions, and the first case is Kennedy v Bremerton School District.
The case focuses on Joseph Kennedy, a football coach at a public high school who lost his job after repeatedly praying with some of his players after games.
In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservatives ruled that the school district had violated Kennedy’s First Amendment rights by terminating his employment.
“The Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance from government reprisal,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the opinion.
“The Constitution neither mandates nor permits the government to suppress such religious expression.”
Dani Anguiano
How many people to expect?
It’s the question anguished reproductive care providers in California are grappling with after the US supreme court voted to overturn the federal right to abortion.
With more than half of US states set to outlaw abortion, California has pledged to become a “sanctuary” for people seeking reproductive care. The state has putforward a package of legislation to expand access for residents and support people seeking abortions from out of state. The state’s governor on Friday signed a bill protecting patients and abortion providers in California from civil liability.
Researchers estimate that California could see a nearly 3,000% increase in the number of people whose nearest legal abortion provider is in the state. California’s annual patient load could rise from from 46,000 people to 1.4 million, according to a Guttmacher Institute report.
Providers in the state have been preparing for the moment for months.
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has proposed the impeachment of supreme court justices who allegedly misled senators about their thoughts on Roe during their confirmation hearings.
At least two senators, Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Joe Manchin, have said the reversal of Roe contradicts Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh’s previous comments about the landmark case.
“I believe lying under oath is an impeachable offense,” Ocasio-Cortez said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” yesterday.
“And I believe that this is something that should be very seriously considered, including by senators like Joe Manchin and Susan Collins.”
WATCH: Democrats must realize that the implications of the Roe decision are “not just a crisis of Roe” but “a crisis of our democracy,” @AOC says. #MTP
“The Supreme Court has dramatically overreached its authority. … This is a crisis of legitimacy.” pic.twitter.com/PlExDJ6mXX
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 26, 2022
Ocasio-Cortez also pointed to the alleged involvement of Ginni Thomas, the wife of supreme court Justice Clarence Thomas, in the January 6 insurrection to argue that the court is losing its credibility with the public.
She warned that the supreme court’s willingness to issue sweeping, unpopular decisions could threaten the foundation of America’s system of government.
“This is not just a crisis of Roe; this is a crisis of our democracy. The supreme court has dramatically overreached its authority,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“This is a crisis of legitimacy, and President Biden must address that.”
Melody Schreiber
After the revocation of the constitutional right to abortion in the United States, pregnancy-related deaths will almost certainly increase – especially among people of color, experts say. They called for urgent action to protect reproductive rights and the health of patients around the country.
“There are going to be more people who are forced to carry a pregnancy to term, which means that there’s going to be a greater number of people who are at risk,” said Rachel Hardeman, a reproductive health equity professor and researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. “More pregnancy means more likelihood of deaths.”
Existing state bans could lead to an additional 75,000 births a year for those who can’t access abortions, according to one estimate. The bans will disproportionately affect younger, poorer people of color and those who already have children.
But America is an incredibly difficult place to be pregnant, with the highest maternal mortality rate by far of any developed country – and it’s rising sharply.
For every 100,000 births, 23.8 people died from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes in 2020 – a total of 861 women – according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Biden faces pressure to protect abortion rights after supreme court reverses Roe
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Joe Biden is facing increased pressure from members of his own party to protect abortion rights after the supreme court ruled Friday to reverse Roe v Wade.
A number of Democrats are calling on Biden to use executive action to shore up abortion access, as several states immediately moved to ban the procedure.
Shortly before the court’s decision was announced, congresswoman Ayanna Pressley led a group of Black women lawmakers to demand that Biden declare a public health and national emergency on abortion access.
“It is clear that attacks on reproductive rights and abortion access are a threat to the public health and will put Black lives most at risk,” the lawmakers wrote in a public letter.
“We urge you to use any and all executive authorities to address the public health crisis our nation will face if Roe v Wade is dismantled.”
Biden may soon offer more clues as to what his next steps will be to address one of the court’s most profound rulings in decades.
Here’s what else is happening today:
- The supreme court is expected to issue more rulings at 10am ET. The justices still have several more major decisions they need to announce before the end of the term.
- Biden is in Germany for the G7 summit. The US president is attending summit sessions on Ukraine, climate and gender equality today.
- Kamala Harris is swearing in the new US ambassador to Ukraine. The Senate unanimously confirmed foreign service officer Bridget Brink to fill the role last month.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
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