Sotomayor Issues Emergency Stay In Yeshiva’s Religious Liberty Suit
In June, Albany Update noted that Yeshiva University in New York City had lost the first round of a court battle to preserve its Jewish identity in the face of LGBT student demands. Now, the University is seeking to take this battle all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. On August…
Schumer To Bring [Dis]Respect For Marriage To Senate
A vote on same-sex “marriage” legislation could occur in the U.S. Senate as soon as September 2022. As Albany Update noted earlier this year, the so-called Respect for Marriage Act (RMA) (Bill S.4556-Feinstein/H.R.8404-Nadler) passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a sizable bipartisan majority. The RMA would keep same-sex “marriage” legal nationwide even if the…
House Passes Contraception Bill Lacking Religious Liberty Protections
On July 21, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 8373-Manning) by a vote of 228-195. Like the names of many other liberal bills, the name of this bill is misleading. According to Washington Watch, the Right to Contraception Act “could stop states from banning chemical abortions, prevent…
Hochul’s New Gun Law Has Impact On Houses of Worship
On July 1, 2022, the state of New York enacted a new gun control law. The July 2022 Gun Control Law was passed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen, which held that New York’s “concealed carry” law violated the Second Amendment. Unfortunately,…
SCOTUS Rejects Vaccine Mandate Case
Over the past few weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States has issued praiseworthy decisions affecting crucial matters like abortion and religious freedom. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Court saved untold numbers of innocent lives by overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and ruling that there is no constitutional right…
Coach Kennedy Wins Supreme Court Case
On June 27, 2022, following a seven-year legal battle, Christian football coach Joe Kennedy won his public prayer case before the Supreme Court of the United States. Coach Kennedy was an assistant coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington. After football games, Coach Kennedy had a habit of praying at the 50-yard line on…
SCOTUS Upholds Equal Treatment of Christian Schools
On June 21, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States released its decision in Carson v. Makin. The decision is consistent with other pro-religious liberty Supreme Court decisions released during the past several years. Carson v. Makin arose from a dispute occurring in the state of Maine. In many rural areas of Maine, school…
Yeshiva University Stands Strong For Religious Freedom
On June 16, 2022, The New York Times reported that a trial court had ruled against Yeshiva University in a case involving a conflict between LGBT activism and religious liberty. According to The Times, a group of students sued the University in 2021 to challenge its unwillingness to allow an LGBT student group to form…
State Receives Public Comment Regarding Private School Regs
In September 2019, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) submitted a public comment on a proposed rule relating to instruction in nonpublic schools. The proposed rule would have required school districts to evaluate the instruction provided by nonpublic schools (including Christian schools) to see whether that instruction complied with state law. (New York law requires…
Advocates Seek LGBT Training for Health Aides
Bills S.2534-Rivera and Bill A.1880-A-Dinowitz would require home health aides, personal care aides, personal care staff, and certified nursing aides to receive training on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of the state certification and re-certification processes. The mandated training would include explanations of terms like “queer,” “asexual,” “gender non-conforming,” and “non-binary,”…
Christian Professor Receives Settlement in Free Speech Case
In light of the recent outcome of a First Amendment lawsuit, public universities may want to think twice before they impose “transgender” speech codes upon members of their faculty. On April 14, 2022, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced that Professor Nicholas Meriwether’s lawsuit against his employer, Shawnee State University in Ohio, had settled. CBS News…
Suffolk County Legislator Fleming Seeks To Censor Public Prayer
A member of the Suffolk County Legislature has proposed a rules change that would place unconstitutional limits on prayers at public meetings. Like many other government entities, the Suffolk County Legislature opens its meetings with prayer. Within the past year, two prayers offered by Roman Catholic priests at meetings of the Suffolk County Legislature included…
Biden Administration To Rescind Conscience Rule
On April 19, 2022, Politico reported that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to roll back the Conscience Rights in Health Care Rule. A new regulation rescinding the rule may be released by the end of the month. Finalized in May 2019, the Conscience Rights in Health Care Rule was designed…
Some Legislators Seek Socialized Medicine
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms supports policies that preserve religious liberty. For our 2022 Digital Day of Action, our religious liberty agenda is focused on blocking the proposed New York Health Act (S.5474-Rivera/A.6058-Gottfried). The New York Health Act would kick every New Yorker off of his or her health insurance and impose a government-controlled program…
Hochul’s Budget Proposal Compels Abortion Coverage
Unfortunately, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s enthusiasm for abortion has found its way into her 2022-2023 state budget proposal. The budget bill pertaining to health and mental hygiene (Bill S.8007-A-Budget/Bill A.9007-A-Budget) would require New York health insurance policies to cover abortion. Furthermore, the bill would require that the abortion coverage not be subject to coinsurance, copayments, or…
“Fairness For All” Sponsors Drop Support
In a victory for common sense and decency, several Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have withdrawn their support from the misleadingly-named Fairness for All Act. The Fairness for All Act (H.R. 1440) is a Republican-sponsored pro-LGBT bill that has been marketed as a compromise measure. According to its advocates, the bill would…