4 Things to Look for at Trump Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh's Senate Hearing
Religious Liberty
In June, the United States Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission that a Christian baker named Jack Phillips was wrongly punished for refusing on religious grounds to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
As other potential cases are going through the courts on the extent to which Christian business owners can refuse service on the basis of religious objection, expect many questions to come to Kavanaugh on religious liberty issues.
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As a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006, Kavanaugh has weighed in on a few cases regarding religious freedom.
In one case, he concluded that a group of Protestant Navy chaplains who filed a lawsuit arguing that the Navy's retirement system gives preferential treatment to Catholic chaplains lacked the standing to sue.
In another, Kavanaugh dissented against a majority opinion that rejected the pro-life group Priests for Life's appeal, writing that the refusal contradicted the results of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Wheaton College v. Burwell.
"We are a lower court in a hierarchical judicial system headed by 'one supreme Court.' U.S. Const. art. III, § 1. It is not our job to re-litigate or trim or expand Supreme Court decisions. Our job is to follow them as closely and carefully and dispassionately as we can," wrote Kavanaugh.
"Doing so here, in my respectful view, leads to the conclusion that the plaintiff religious organizations should ultimately prevail on their RFRA claim, but not to the full extent that they seek."
