Richard A. Sokerka
When Neil Gorsuch was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court last week, religious freedom advocates cheered.
“As Catholics, we welcome a judge whose record adheres to the Constitutional right to free exercise of religion without government bullying and whose scholarship affirms the inherent dignity in all people,” said Ashley McGuire, senior fellow with The Catholic Association.
During 11 years on the federal appeals court in Denver, Gorsuch mirrored the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s originalist approach to the law, interpreting the Constitution according to the meaning understood by those who drafted it.
“A Supreme Court justice, like Judge Gorsuch, who understands and values our founding documents, and hews closely to their meaning will help ensure that all Americans can continue to prosper and that we, as Catholics, remain free in exercising our religious principles,” said Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie, policy adviser with The Catholic Association.
Ironically, one of the first cases Gorsuch and his fellow justices on the Supreme Court will hear will be Trinity Lutheran Church v. Pauley. That case involves a church’s eligibility for a state reimbursement program as it looks to make safety upgrades to its playground which is used by members and nonmembers of the church.
Opponents say that according to a Missouri state law, churches cannot benefit from taxpayer funds in cases like this because doing so would be an unconstitutional establishment of religion.
However, Trinity Lutheran Church and its lawyers are arguing that the Constitution does not require religious entities to be penalized simply because they are religious. The playground in question is for the entire community, not just members of the church, they say.
Another case that the Supreme Court may take up is Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, where the state’s civil rights commission ruled that a Lakewood, Colo. cake artist could not decline to serve a same-sex wedding on the grounds of his religious beliefs.
These religious freedom cases will make for any interesting indoctrination to the high court for Justice Gorsuch.
The nation will be watching to see if in his decisions he is truly cut in the same judicial cloth as Justice Scalia.