God’s Rottweilers
At POLITICO, Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux profiles the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, the small nonprofit law firm that has had two cases heard in front of the Supreme Court in less than 6 months. The Becket Fund emerged in 1994 as a nonpartisan religious liberty advocate with no specific religious affiliation, but has grown into one of the most influential firms in Washington. “The Becket Fund is an extraordinarily ecumenical organization,” says Michael McConnell, religious liberty scholar at Stanford Law School. “It’s happenstance, of course, that a case is coming right on the heels of Hobby Lobby that will remind everyone that religious freedom is important and not—in most contexts—a culture war issue. But that’s been the Becket Fund’s position all along.”