WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has cleared the way for an LGBTQ group to gain official recognition from a Jewish university in New York, though that may not last.
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By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group, the YU Pride Alliance, even as a legal fight continues in New York courts.
Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the court’s three liberal justices to form a majority.
The disagreement among the justices appears to be mostly about procedure, with the majority writing in a brief unsigned order that Yeshiva should return to state court to seek quick review and temporary relief while the case continues.
If it gets neither from state courts, the school can return to the Supreme Court, the majority wrote.
Four conservative justices dissented, in an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that said recognition should have been kept on hold because Yeshiva has made a strong case that its First Amendment religious rights have been violated.
The Constitution “prohibits a State from enforcing its own preferred interpretation of Holy Scripture. Yet that is exactly what New York has done in this case, and it is disappointing that a majority of this Court refuses to provide relief,” Alito wrote. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett joined his opinion.
The upshot, Alito wrote, is that Yeshiva probably will have to recognize the Pride Alliance “for at least some period of time (and perhaps for a lengthy spell).”
On Friday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor signed the order that put things on hold and indicated the court would have more to say on the topic.
The university, an Orthodox Jewish institution in New York, argued that granting recognition to the Pride Alliance, “would violate its sincere religious beliefs.”
The club argued that Yeshiva’s plea to the Supreme Court was premature, also noting the university already has recognized a gay pride club at its law school.
A New York state court sided with the student group and ordered the university to recognize the club immediately. The matter remains on appeal in the state court system, but judges there refused to put the order on hold in the meantime.
The Supreme Court has been very receptive to religious freedom claims in recent years.
In June, conservatives who hold a 6-3 majority struck down a Maine program prohibiting state funds from being spent at religious schools and ruled a high school football coach in Washington state has the right to pray on the field after games.
They take millions in government funds, so they have to comply with the law of the land. they could stop taking funds and do what they want if Torah values are more important to them and millions less. same goes for our Mosdos. if you take $$$ from the gov you become subject to outside forces.
Justice Roberts…the gift that keeps on giving.
YU has to decide: are they an Educational Facility (as in their 1970’s Charter, so they could get funding) OR are they a Religious Institution? Same decision by NY Yeshivas…
In a worst case scenario, the school will have to abolish all clubs . This way there can be no claims of discrimination
This is the response to the enlightened crowd who think allowing the government to decide what goes on in our schools isn’t so bad, after all it’s part of integration… once they have the voice in what goes on in our schools they won’t suffice with math and geography, it ends with this
Actually the court didn’t decide in favor of the lbgtq+, all the court said was that YU can’t force them to disband while they continue to fight this out in court. This is still in the lower courts of NYS. Hopefully when it gets somewhere they will be cancelled.
The YU chartered itself as secular “non-sectarian.” They were warned that if they lie down with dogs, they are going to get up with gays. But they thought they knew better.
There are no words for this HORROR