Friend:

This week marks six months since the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. For many Americans, that tragic day was a wake-up call to grapple with the growing, anti-democratic influence of Christian nationalism in our politics.

Even with Donald Trump out of office, that movement is aggressively pursuing its agenda to remake America into its vision of a Christian nation. One path they’re taking runs right through the Supreme Court, where a deeply conservative majority has established a troubling pattern of privileging the religious beliefs of some people over the rights of others. The Supreme Court’s docket for the next term has the potential to continue that trend.

Last week, when the Supreme Court wrapped up its 2020-21 term, it announced a few key religious-freedom cases that it would – and would not – be hearing in the 2021-22 term. Unfortunately, the court accepted another private school voucher case, Carson v. Makin.

Last year, the Supreme Court required states to include religious schools in private school voucher programs (Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue). In Carson, the court could now cross the final line and require taxpayers to pay for religious instruction.

But there was good news, too: One of the cases the court declined to hear was Arlene’s Flowers v. Washington, a case concerning a florist who refused to provide an arrangement for a same-sex couple’s wedding. By declining to hear this case, which was brought by the Christian nationalist legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, the court is allowing a favorable ruling, one that protects religious freedom, to remain in place.

With reproductive freedom also on the line in a high-profile case the court added to the docket earlier this year, next term promises high stakes for religious freedom. Friend, rest assured that AU stands ready to defend church-state separation no matter what happens.

With hope and determination,