How Serious Is the Supreme Court About Religious Freedom?
At The Atlantic, Dawinder S. Sidhu reports that a new case will test whether the Supreme Court’s defense of conscience in the Hobby Lobby case will extend to minority religions as well. Holt v. Hobbs involves a inmate in Arkansas who was denied the right to grow beard in observance with his Islamic faith. The inmate filed a petition to the Supreme Court who agreed to hear arguments on the case on October 7. “There is ample reason for the Court to protect Gregory Holt’s religious liberty, much as it did the religious beliefs of the business owners in Hobby Lobby,” writes Sidhu. “For the Court to set aside Holt’s claim would be to reinforce the perception that religious freedom is reserved for the powerful or majoritarian faiths.”