The U.S.
Supreme Court is set to rule on Monday in a closely watched religious rights
case involving limits on public funding for churches and other religious
entities as the
justices issue the final rulings of their current term.
The nine
justices are due to rule in six cases, not including their decision expected in
the coming days on whether to take up President Donald Trump's bid to revive
his ban on travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries in which an
emergency appeal is pending.
Of the
remaining cases argued during the court's current term, which began in October,
the most eagerly awaited one concerns a Missouri church backed by a
conservative Christian legal group. The ruling potentially could narrow the
separation of church and state.
A decision
in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church, located in Columbia, Missouri, set the
stage for more public money to go to religious entities. The church sued after
being denied state taxpayer funds for a playground improvement project because
of a Missouri constitutional provision barring state funding for religious
entities.
Trinity
Lutheran could be headed for a lopsided win, with two liberal justices joining
their conservative colleagues in signaling support during the April oral
argument. It was one of the first in which Trump's conservative appointee to
the court, Neil Gorsuch, participated.
The dispute
pits two provisions of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment against each
other: the guarantee of the free exercise of religion and the Establishment
Clause requiring the separation of church and state.
A broad
ruling backing the church could hearten religious conservatives who favor
weakening the wall between church and state, including using taxpayer money to
pay for children to attend private religious schools rather than public
schools. President Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a
leading supporter of such "school choice" plans.
The most
notable of three immigration-related cases in which rulings are due on Monday
is a dispute over whether immigrants detained by the U.S. government for more
than six months while deportation proceedings unfold should be able to request
their release. The case takes on additional significance with Trump ratcheting
up immigration enforcement, placing more people in detention awaiting
deportation.
The court
also is set to decide a case that could clarify the criminal acts for which
legal immigrants may be deported. Another involves whether the family of a
Mexican teenager shot dead while standing on Mexican soil by a U.S. Border
Patrol agent in Texas can sue for civil rights violations.
As the
justices look to finish work before their summer break, they must decide what
to do with Trump's travel ban, which was blocked by lower courts. His
administration has made an emergency request asking for the ban to go into
effect while the litigation continues.
The March 6
executive order called for a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United
States to let the government implement stronger vetting. Trump has said the
order is needed urgently to prevent terrorism in the United States.
REUTERS
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