The Supreme Court is Back in Session – Still Down One Justice

Amid the din of election news, the U.S. Supreme Court quietly went back to work last week. Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat is still vacant. It will remain so until after the election.

The justices have taken more than 30 cases. One in particular could impact religious freedom.  It involves a church in Missouri that applied for a state grant to cover its daycare playground with ground rubber tires. Even though the church qualified, the state turned down the application citing the separation of church and state.

“Can a state really take the position that we have a higher wall between the separation of church and state in our state than in the federal Constitution?” attorney Paul Clement asked at an event at the Heritage Foundation. “It’ll be a hard case to duck.”

But it appears they are trying. Even though they have agreed to hear it, the Trinity Lutheran case does not appear on the court docket. Many are speculating that they’re waiting until a new justice joins them.