Opinion: How the U.S. Supreme Court embraces religion

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Linda Greenhouse

The Supreme Court of the United States. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

Before the next two months are out, the Supreme Court will decide two high-visibility cases that at first glance appear to have little to do with each other. One is the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, about the baker who won’t design a cake for celebrating a same-sex marriage, and the other is Trump v. Hawaii, the challenge to the president’s latest travel ban. One is as domestic as it gets, while the other is infused with issues of foreign policy and presidential power. What they have in common is the claim of religious discrimination at the heart of each. Classically, the Supreme Court invoked the religion clauses of the First Amendment — the protection for free exercise and the prohibition against government “establishment” of religion — on behalf of minority religions. But in recent years, the court’s concern has flipped. [More]