The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear a case over whether a religious ministry can limit who it hires to people who share its beliefs, in the latest hotly contested test of religious liberty, which could make its way to the Supreme Court.
The full bench of the federal appeals court agreed to an appeal in a lawsuit brought by Yakima Union Gospel Mission against a Washington law that would have restricted their ability to limit hiring to people who share their religious beliefs, arguing the law is a violation of their First Amendment religious freedom. A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit previously sided with the ministry, and the judge who wrote the opinion for that panel offered a sharp criticism of the rest of the bench for deciding to review the case.
