Supreme Court decision ignites religious liberty battle

Justice Neil Gorsuch’s majority opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, a Supreme Court decision extending employment protections to gay and transgender people, kicks off a new religious liberty battle.

Gorsuch wrote that he foresees a path for religious institutions to fight their way to the Supreme Court as they seek exceptions from new laws granting protections for gay and transgender workers. He pointed specifically to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal law that prevents government from unnecessarily burdening the practice of religion unless it advances a narrowly tailored, “compelling interest.”