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The US Supreme Court is scheduled to take on several key cases concerning religious liberty, eminent domain, and inmate rights in November, with the justices apparently set to hold hours of oral arguments across a five-day session, according to a calendar released by the top court this week.
Supreme Court Takes on Religious Liberty
One of the most highly anticipated cases involves alleged religious discrimination: In St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, dozens of Catholic schools were excluded from Colorado’s universal preschool program allegedly due to their religious beliefs.
The Centennial State launched its preschool funding program in 2023, offering eligible families a benefit worth over $6000 for at least 15 hours of preschool each week at a “high-quality preschool of their choice,” the state’s Department of Early Childhood website reads.
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Catholic families in Colorado quickly learned the “universal” program wasn’t really universal at all: “More than 1,500 children across over 30 Catholic preschools were deemed ineligible for the funding, solely because of their preschool’s religious affiliation,” according to Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the plaintiffs in the case.
Colorado officials maintained that the decision was appropriate because the Catholic preschools refuse to admit the children of parents who identify as members of the LGBT community, which violates the program’s nondiscrimination agreement.
The Catholic schools, on the other hand, argue their faith-based admissions policies are their First Amendment right. "The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that states cannot exclude families from government benefits because of their faith. We're confident the Court will say the same thing here and put a stop to Colorado's no-Catholics-need-apply rules," said Nicholas Reaves, a senior counsel at Becket.
The court will hear oral arguments for St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy on Tuesday, November 3.
Prison Fights and Inmate Rights
Can a federal inmate sue prison officials for allegedly failing to provide medical care after a violent incident? That’s the issue at the center of Nielsen v. Watanabe. Kekai Watanabe, a former federal prisoner held at Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center, claims he was denied treatment after suffering a fractured coccyx during a fight.
According to SCOTUSblog, Watanabe’s case “relies on the Supreme Court’s 1971 decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents,” which held that “a private individual could sue a federal agent for violating his Fourth Amendment rights, even when there was not a specific law authorizing a claim for damages.” The Supreme Court will hear the case on Monday, November 9.
Eminent Domain and ‘Just Compensation’
Also on November 9, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Hoffmann v. WBI Energy Transmission, a case involving a dispute over eminent domain. Under the Fifth Amendment, the government has the right to take private property “for public use” – but only with “just compensation.”
Leonard Hoffmann, a rancher in North Dakota, was notified that a natural gas pipeline company was going to take his – and his neighbors’ – land under eminent domain. The company’s “just compensation” offer was so low that Hoffmann took them to court. After years of legal battles, a judge ruled that Hoffmann and his fellow ranchers had the right to “introduce evidence about the market rate for pipeline easements,” according to the Institute for Justice (IJ).
“The case settled shortly thereafter, but the ranchers were left with a healthy bill for all the time it took to vindicate their rights. The judge ruled that the pipeline company should have to pay that bill, too,” IJ explained. All was well until the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals decided the gas pipeline company didn’t have to pay the ranchers’ legal fees, which amounted to “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The Supreme Court will have to decide whether it is appropriate to saddle Americans with legal debt simply to protect their property rights against powerful government-backed entities seeking to take their land for less than it’s worth.
With the Supreme Court’s calendar set, it looks like November is going to be a consequential month for Americans’ Constitutional rights.
