https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to Antonin Scalia en https://religiondispatches.org/2024/07/08/supreme-court-cleared-way-president-king-rights-prize-50-years-planning During a 1977 series of interviews (for which he was paid handsomely), Richard Nixon, responding to journalist David Frost’s question about Watergate, uttered these fateful words: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” At the… Mon, 08 Jul 2024 05:25:17 EDT Annika Brockschmidt 12dc7029-5cca-4873-80cf-62507d38d3c8 https://religiondispatches.org/2024/03/18/speech-white-evangelical-broadcasters-trump-lays-out-his-white-christian-nationalist I know, it’s easy to dismiss Trump’s extremist rhetoric as just another occasion of “Trump being Trump.” Because the deluge is unrelenting, paying attention is emotionally and morally exhausting. But especially now that he has essentially secured the nomination as… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 05:32:41 EDT Robert P. Jones fe430ccc-4738-41ec-a7bc-c83ae99a7b27 https://religiondispatches.org/2023/01/17/key-understanding-federalist-society-isnt-originalism-its-800-year-old-tradition In the amicus brief he submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the state of Mississippi in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case that overturned Roe v. Wade , John Eastman of the Claremont Institute anchored a “foundational… Tue, 17 Jan 2023 05:15:13 EST Peter Schwartz 1a5a6f37-1de4-45e6-a3bc-fc71f49990de https://religiondispatches.org/2021/12/03/authoritarian-scotus-didnt-just-happen-roe-hangs-thread-press-struggles-context-and In light of the likelihood that the GOP-stacked Supreme Court will rule in favor of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health —and the immense harm that such a ruling will do, whether or not it comes… Fri, 03 Dec 2021 12:29:21 EST Chrissy Stroop f96e8532-b31f-4298-869d-02558d45649f https://religiondispatches.org/2021/11/15/landmark-speech-lds-leader-lgbtq-rights-and-religious-freedom-was-more-sunnier-groundhog On Friday evening at the University of Virginia, Dallin H. Oaks , the head of the LDS church , delivered a speech aimed, ostensibly, at balancing what religious conservatives refer to as “religious freedom” and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals… Mon, 15 Nov 2021 07:02:20 EST Aly Marino d710962a-a744-4967-b1d8-f74c664ec395 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/08/vaccine-mandates-are-constitutional-religious-exemptions-are-unnecessary-and-harmful The Spirit of 1776 was as much about science as it was about freedom. George Washington required the entire Continental Army to get inoculated against smallpox—the first army-wide vaccination in history . Mortality dropped from 30% to 1%. Mandatory vaccinations… Fri, 08 Oct 2021 01:38:49 EDT Andrew L. Seidel 4e35e6a1-86ac-4dd6-8bd7-8436038e120a https://religiondispatches.org/2020/09/29/can-democrats-question-amy-coney-barretts-faith-yes-should-they-well Let’s cut right to the paper chase, as it were. Amy Coney Barrett’s faith is potentially problematic, and ought to be subject to the same kind of critique as any other belief, sacred or secular. Whether or not critics of… Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:32:35 EDT Daniel Schultz c0dd77a4-0c26-4223-8230-de1956f06aba https://religiondispatches.org/2020/09/25/why-media-and-democrats-should-reject-christian-rights-pearl-clutching-and-address America is trapped in an abusive relationship—not just with the pussy-grabbing President Donald Trump, our abuser-in-chief, but also with the Republican Party, its white Christian base, the police, and the increasingly uninhibited “ good guys with guns ,” whose vigilante… Fri, 25 Sep 2020 12:34:39 EDT Chrissy Stroop 4408b225-cdbb-4cc1-ad04-bf5ccf43a79d https://religiondispatches.org/2020/09/21/trumps-nominee-fill-rbgs-seat-unfit-definition The name will be announced later this week. The president, a former reality show host, has a penchant for dragging out nominations in an orgy of egocentric pomp, one of his many corrosive influences. But indecent haste has driven Trump… Mon, 21 Sep 2020 04:01:13 EDT Andrew L. Seidel f8862b83-f51f-41ea-bac8-348a543d4ffa https://religiondispatches.org/2020/08/24/revelation-kurt-andersen-evil-geniuses-media-mandarin-discovers-plutocracy When I showed up at New York’s Judson Church in 1994 at least some of the wonderful congregants there were puzzled that I put so much emphasis on economic justice. They had called an openly gay minister, and some thought… Mon, 24 Aug 2020 04:17:59 EDT Peter Laarman 33eae052-2b39-4af7-8cd8-2bd0cd968a76 https://religiondispatches.org/2020/06/16/neil-gorsuch-shows-how-donald-trump-loses-some-white-evangelical-christians When it comes to the president’s support among white evangelical Christians, my first instinct is skepticism. Always. These people are not subject to political factors normal people are subject to, such as a pandemic that has killed more than 118,000… Tue, 16 Jun 2020 02:09:26 EDT John Stoehr 8335b211-6537-4328-a0c1-fc4b18da6477 https://religiondispatches.org/2019/10/11/latest-round-lgbtq-discrimination-cases-scotus-religion-elephant-room There’s much to say about this week’s arguments, including the question of whether the employers were arguing, in effect, that it is acceptable to discriminate against LGBTQ people so long as they discriminate against all LGBTQ people. Fri, 11 Oct 2019 02:11:57 EDT Patrick Hornbeck c2b51f34-1a53-46ed-b68c-5d018d463835 https://religiondispatches.org/2019/01/03/religious-freedom-battle-far-over-heres-what-look-2019 While the issues are piling up, the Supreme Court—and U.S. society more broadly—will have to face the questions ducked in Masterpiece Cakeshop, or else be willing to settle for a level of uncertainty that serves no one. Thu, 03 Jan 2019 03:17:20 EST Patrick Hornbeck ec27ae95-8ca8-4bd4-ac5d-245f46891eb8 https://religiondispatches.org/2018/07/23/how-catholic-majority-scotus-fulfilled-evangelical-dream This is not a majority Catholic court. It’s the Supreme Court that the strange alliance of the religious right built. Mon, 23 Jul 2018 02:13:35 EDT Katherine Kelaidis 68c59ce1-2b3b-4851-b596-e36f7308d6dc https://religiondispatches.org/2017/12/01/what-justice-gorsuchs-record-suggests-about-masterpiece-cakeshop-case When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments December 5 in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, it will be the first time the Court has taken up a major gay-rights case since its historic June 2015 ruling in Obergefell… Fri, 01 Dec 2017 12:20:54 EST Patrick Hornbeck 62c422a2-42bc-485a-b81b-12598b6c3710 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/11/13/subway-sandwich-artist-argument-when-religious-freedom-isnt-about-religious-freedom Consider this faintly ridiculous hypothetical: I am in line at my local Subway sandwich shop, ordering my favorite sub with a generous helping of hot sauce. “I’m sorry, sir,” says the person behind the counter, “but that much sriracha will… Mon, 13 Nov 2017 02:58:53 EST Patrick Hornbeck e1e84e02-e193-4087-b857-3b183ab072bf https://religiondispatches.org/2017/06/08/pences-prayer-breakfast-appearance-underscores-fractured-american-catholicism The annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is hardly a bipartisan or nonpolitical event. It was founded in 2004 as part of an effort to cement ties between conservative Catholics, the Catholic hierarchy, and the GOP. Among those associated with it… Thu, 08 Jun 2017 02:34:44 EDT Patricia Miller 70ccb19c-1745-45c8-9460-67b65319c489 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/04/07/gorsuch-confirmed-dont-get-too-bent-out-shape Well, it’s done. Moments ago the Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch as the newest associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His ascension to the high court was, of course, incredibly contentious, though not for the reasons it should have been… Fri, 07 Apr 2017 12:05:52 EDT Sunnivie Brydum deb8ba9c-3f49-40ff-a8ea-97d8cf1e9fd3 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/12/01/special-hell-progressive-catholics-reckon-rise-trump To many, Catholic support for Trump feels like a repudiation of the Catholic social justice tradition. Thu, 01 Dec 2016 01:56:41 EST Patricia Miller 30ca69e6-7ee9-4e3d-89d6-b32cf6da63cf https://religiondispatches.org/2016/10/27/religious-freedom-org-sticking-trump-clinging-scotus-nominations The foul-mouthed businessman still has a few reliable allies going to bat for him. Thu, 27 Oct 2016 07:09:30 EDT Sunnivie Brydum a9c7f468-b165-4443-8a6c-d4c12314269a https://religiondispatches.org/2016/09/20/its-not-me-its-you-catholic-values-dumping-trump Evangelicals will seemingly overlook anything about Trump, but Catholics won’t. Tue, 20 Sep 2016 01:58:05 EDT Patricia Miller 075eefb9-79ae-497f-a20a-7a2cc6d07d71 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/09/12/trump-doesnt-need-pivot-if-evangelicals-do-it-him Gaining ground in the “Flight 93 Election” at the Values Voters Summit Mon, 12 Sep 2016 10:49:18 EDT Paul Harvey 7d149e18-f0d5-4272-9a85-778560791961 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/08/17/come-hell-or-high-water-how-melodrama-disaster-leaves-us-vulnerable Disaster has a clarifying glamour. It promises to highlight virtue and reveal iniquity. Therein lies the problem. Wed, 17 Aug 2016 10:58:20 EDT Noah Berlatsky 35885df7-9fa8-41b5-b76b-7d16bf7458cf https://religiondispatches.org/2016/06/29/did-scotus-just-restore-sanity-religious-liberty-debate Largely lost in the (understandable) hubbub about the Supreme Court’s historic Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt abortion decision was its action the following day that may recast the parameters of the religious liberty debate. On Tuesday, the court declined to… Wed, 29 Jun 2016 01:35:43 EDT Patricia Miller c401ee57-e76d-435a-a4fc-896790644ab8 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/06/20/baptist-resolutions-signal-more-culture-war Because of the outspoken opposition to Donald Trump by some of its leaders, and its call (in a resolution just passed at its annual meeting in St. Louis) for removal of the Confederate flags from public places and churches, the… Mon, 20 Jun 2016 03:04:58 EDT Paul Harvey d894a2cc-2a11-4995-a13f-b48098d206a8