Dear Friends,

Your inbox is full of emails from groups and causes asking for your help. So, of course, I am piling on. But my request this year is different. I want you to take a moment to celebrate the many victories we’ve achieved together, and to consider what they mean to you. The last 18 months have brought a shift in the law in our country that culminated in a 9-0 decision late this summer that only our team expected. 

You see, Sharonell Fulton and Toni Simms-Busch, the two single moms that helped protect their faith-based foster care agency, Philadelphia’s Catholic Social Services, did what everyone else told them would be impossible. They stood up to the forces of secularization and won 9-0 against the ACLU and other foes of religious liberty.

#GivingTuesday is a big day for supporting non-profit organizations you believe in, that are making a tremendous impact.  It’s a day to celebrate generosity by giving back.  And the Becket team has worked hard to make that list of things to celebrate VERY long.
 
Here’s how we’ve protected religious freedom, the cornerstone of our First Amendment freedoms, one case at a time.  

• We secured a series of wins (three for three!) in our campus cases, as we continue to protect religious student groups and their freedom of speech, religion, and assembly on college campuses.
• We blocked a requirement known as the Transgender Mandate that would force medical professionals and religious hospitals to perform gender transition procedures on their patients—including children—even when the procedures are potentially harmful.
• We won a major ruling protecting a Catholic school’s right to choose its guidance counselors. At stake was the fundamental First Amendment right of a religious school—just like a house of worship—to ensure its flock is guided by its faith and not by the government.
  
• For the second year in a row, Becket secured a spot on the National Law Journal’s “Appellate Hot List.” Last year, Becket was the first-ever non-profit law firm to be placed on the Hot List, which includes the nation’s leading for-profit law firms, and this year we became the first non-profit to earn the honor two years in a row.
• In one of the first cases in this Supreme Court term, the Court rejected a New York court order coercing nuns into providing abortion insurance, giving the nuns another chance to protect their consciences. 

We need your help, now more than ever, to continue our good work. Today, #GivingTuesday, I hope you'll invest in making the list of victories for 2022 even longer.