Supreme Court to hear major religious rights case on April 18
Kaelan Deese
The Supreme Court on Tuesday released its oral argument calendar for March 20 through April 26 as it marked dates for arguments in major cases, including an ex-postal worker’s suit claiming he was denied religious accommodations.
Justices will hear arguments on April 18 over a dispute brought by a Christian employee who claimed that the Postal Service failed to live up to his request to opt out of working Sunday shifts.
SUPREME COURT ADDS RELIGIOUS RIGHTS PROTECTIONS TO DOCKET OF EIGHT NEW CASES
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The case, Groff v. DeJoy, was brought by former postal worker Gerald Groff, whose managers arranged for other workers to deliver packages on Sundays until July 2018, when he began to face disciplinary actions if he did not come to work.
Groff is represented by the First Liberty Institute, which is challenging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit’s decision that found the Postal Service was not at fault in the dispute.
The former USPS worker’s counsel argues that as a federal employee, he was protected by Title VII from discrimination based on his religious beliefs and practices.
Tuesday’s scheduling announcements, which chart out argument dates for over a dozen lawsuits, show April 26 will mark the final oral argument date of the 2022-23 term. Any future cases taken up by the court will mean arguments will take place sometime after the court’s summer recess.
Starting on the week of March 20, the justices will hear a case between the Navajo Nation, the U.S. government, and three states over whether the tribe has the right to draw water from the Colorado River amid a historic drought in the region.
The justices will then hear arguments on March 21 in two separate cases, including one surrounding cryptocurrency ledger Coinbase’s attempts to halt lawsuits the company says belong in private arbitration after customers alleged Coinbase failed to shield their funds from theft.
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Finally, justices will finish that week on March 22 by hearing a dispute between Jack Daniel’s and a company that sells a parody dog toy that mimics the whiskey brand’s iconic bottle.
The high court already has a packed docket full of major cases for the month of February, including a challenge to President Joe Biden’s student loan cancellation program, two Big Tech disputes, and another lawsuit to be heard on March 1 about the pandemic-era immigration program known as Title 42.