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U.S. Supreme Court Denies Appeal in First Amendment Case

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U.S. Supreme Court Denies Appeal in First Amendment Case

by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND

Religious-freedom advocates welcome outcome, but say it has limited applicability for high-stakes HHS mandate challenges or most parish-based Catholic religious-education programs.

• In a blow to advocates of strict separation of church and state, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal in a First Amendment case that challenged a state public-school program that accommodated students’ religious beliefs.
• On Nov. 13, the high court rejected a request for an appeal in Moss v. Spartanburg Co. School District Seven, after a federal appeals court in July backed a lower-court ruling that favored the South Carolina school district, which allowed high-school students to take off-site religious-education classes and receive academic credit. 
• In 2009, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and two parents in the Spartanburg school district filed a legal challenge to South Carolina’s policy of allowing “release time” instruction for evangelical students.
• Eric Rassbach, the deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who defended the school district, expressed relief that the high court rejected the appeal. 
• But he stressed that the outcome had little significance for the rising number of legal challenges to the federal contraception mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services or other closely watched First Amendment cases.

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