First Liberty Institute and the law firm WilmerHale filed an appeal brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of 30-year veteran teacher, Marisol Arroyo-Castro, who was suspended and removed by the Consolidated School District of New Britain, Connecticut for refusing to remove a small crucifix from her personal items displayed beside her desk in the classroom.
Attorneys of First Liberty Institute, Quinn Emmanuel, and Breidenstein Legal Services, LLC filed a petition for writ of certiorari at the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, Inc. in Kentucky after the Kentucky Supreme Court denied its right to build a modest shrine for quiet prayer and reflection on its own property. The petition urges the Supreme Court to take the case to clarify the proper standards under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) forbidding unlawful burdens on religious land use and requiring religious organizations to be treated equally to similar secular organizations.
First Liberty Institute and Schaerr Jaffe LLP announced a favorable settlement for former Bath & Body Works employee, Jocelyn Boden, who was fired for refusing to use pronouns in a way that violated her religious beliefs.
Today, President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission heard testimony from First Liberty client, Valerie Kloosterman, who was fired by the University of Michigan Health System after 17 years of excellent patient care. She shared about the impact of her termination and the need to protect others from religious discrimination.
First Liberty Institute and the Thomas More Society announced a settlement between the City of Asheville, NC and Zachary Hebb, who was previously denied the ability to share his pro-life message conversationally through an amplifier device outside Asheville Health Center, the only abortion center in Asheville. Now, the city has amended its ordinance to allow amplified speech up to that which is clearly audible 150 feet away from a device, ensuring Hebb and others can be heard by those walking into and around the center.
First Liberty Institute announced today that the KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School in Nashville, TN has agreed to clear the record of teacher Eric Rivera after previously issuing a “final warning letter” and removing him from his first grade teaching position when he refused to read a book to his first graders that promotes same-sex marriage despite having another teacher read the material. The school also agreed to “permit all teachers to ask another employee to read materials objectionable to their faith.”
