TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 18, 2021

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the city of Philadelphia violated the free exercise clause when it refused to contract with a Catholic foster care agency that does not place children with same-sex couples or unmarried couples. The decision was unanimous, although three justices concurred in the judgment rather than joining the opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the ABA Journal reports. In the majority opinion, Roberts wrote that Catholic Social Services, “seeks only an accommodation that will allow it to continue serving the children of Philadelphia in a manner consistent with its religious beliefs; it does not seek to impose those beliefs on anyone else.”