Around the Web

L&R Forum

Oct 31

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

A petition for certiorari has been filed with the U.S Supreme Court in Arkansas Times, LP v. Waldrip (see prior posting). In the case, the Eighth Circuit sitting en banc upheld, against a free speech challenge, Arkansas' law requiring public contracts to include a certification from the contractor that it will not boycott Israel.
In Weiss v. Perez, a California federal district court allowed a tenured professor to move ahead against most of the defendants she named in a lawsuit, which alleged that the University had retaliated against her because of her opposition to repatriation of Native American remains. Professor Weiss has argued that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act violate the Establishment Clause by favoring religion over science. Due to this belief, Weiss claims San Jose State University has interfered with her research and limited her professional activities.
In In re A.C. (Minor Child), an Indiana state appeals court upheld a trial court's order removing from the home a sixteen-year-old transgender child who suffered from an eating disorder and emotional abuse due to their parent's unwillingness to accept the child's transgender identity. The parents allege that they could not affirm their child's transgender identity or use the child's preferred pronouns because of their religious beliefs. The court rejected the parents' Free Exercise claims.
The EEOC announced that it has filed a Title VII and ADA suit against Global Medical Response, Inc. and American Medical Response, Inc., which operate one of the largest medical transport companies in the country. The suit alleges that the companies refused to accommodate employees in EMT and paramedic positions who wish to wear facial hair for religious reasons.
The EEOC has reached a settlement in a religious discrimination suit it had filed against a Conway, Arkansas Kroger store for failing to accommodate two employees who refused to wear the company's apron. The employees insisted that the symbol on the apron promotes the LGBT community, which the employees' religious beliefs preclude them from affirming. Under the settlement, Kroger will pay each employee $20,000 in back pay plus $52,000 each in additional damages.