Michael Foust – November 13, 2020
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Thursday delivered an unusually blunt warning about the future of religious liberty and free speech in the United States, saying both were in danger if the justices don’t step in and protect them.
Alito’s comments came during a speech in a virtual gathering of the Federalist Society, a group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the legal system.
Alito, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, has been known as a staunch supporter of religious liberty and free speech, although his comments left little doubt how he will lean in future cases involving those two issues.
“It pains me to say this, but in certain quarters, religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right,” said Alito, who is Catholic. The pandemic, he bemoaned, “has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty,” even though Alito said he was not “diminishing the severity of the virus’ threat to public health.”
Alito used frank language discussing several high-profile cases, including one involving the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order of nuns who run homes for the elderly poor. The Obama administration tried forcing the Little Sisters to carry health insurance covering contraceptives and abortifacients.
“The Little Sisters are women who have dedicated their lives to caring for the elderly, regardless of religion. They run homes that have won high praise,” Alito said. “… Despite this inspiring work, the Little Sisters have been under unrelenting attack for the better part of a decade. … If they did not knuckle under and violate a tenet of their faith, they faced crippling fines – fines that would likely have forced them to shut down their homes.
“The current administration tried to prevent that by adopting a new rule, but the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey – supported by 17 other states – challenged that new rule. Last spring, the Little Sisters won their most recent battle in the Supreme Court – I should add by a vote of 7 to 2. But the case was sent back to the court of appeals, and the Little Sisters legal fight goes on and on.”
Alito mentioned other cases, too, including the high-profile one involving Jack Phillips, a cake artist and Christian who was told by the state of Colorado he must design a cake for a same-sex wedding or risk violating the law.