Document Type
Brief
Case Name
Harold Shurtleff v. City of Boston
Publication Date
11-22-2021
Abstract
No. 20-1800
Harold Shurtleff v. City of Boston
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
From the Summary of Argument
Invoking the specious rationale of “government speech,” the City of Boston unconstitutionally singled out religious expression for hostile treatment. By lumping speech based on “religion” together with speech deemed “inappropriate,” “offensive,” “discrimin[atory],” or “prejudice[d],” Pet.App.20, the City adopted the increasingly common view that promoting our Nation’s vibrant pluralism requires the exclusion of religious perspectives from the public square. But that view is antithetical to the Founders’ conception of religion as central—not peripheral—to our national order. And it is incompatible with this Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence.
Recommended Citation
Garnett, Nicole Stelle; Garnett, Richard W. IV; Meiser, John A.; Engel, Steven A.; McGinley, Michael H.; Hageman, Eric D.; Romeo, Justin M.; and Wilson, Lincoln Davis, "Brief of Amicus Curiae Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative in Support of Petitioners" (2021). Court Briefs. 35.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/sct_briefs/35
Comments
The Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative promotes and defends religious freedom for people of all faiths through scholarship, events, and the Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic. The Religious Liberty Initiative protects not only the freedom for individuals to hold religious beliefs but also their right to exercise and express those beliefs and to live according to them. In only its first year of operation, the Religious Liberty Initiative has represented individuals and organizations from an array of faith traditions to defend the right to religious worship, to preserve sacred lands from destruction, to promote the freedom to select religious ministers, and to prevent discrimination against religious schools and families.