The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would take up St. Mary Catholic School v. Roy, a case out of Colorado asking whether a state may exclude a religious school from a universal preschool program because the school declines to abandon its beliefs on human sexuality and identity. While the Court declined the opportunity to revisit its 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith, this review promises important clarification on the nature of the free exercise guarantee. This prospect, combined with the Court’s recent establishment clause transformation, should put to rest a fashionable but mistaken narrative circulating among the progressive, secular left.
A recent study has offered fodder to those hoping to argue that this Supreme Court is hostile to civil rights. That narrative not only depends on a selective reading of the Court’s record, but it overlooks a striking reality. In its religion clause cases, the Court has not been retreating from rights. It has been strengthening them.
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