The Supreme Court has cleared the way for an LGBTQ group to gain official recognition from a Jewish university in New York, though that may not last.
By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group, the YU Pride Alliance, even as a legal fight continues in New York courts.
Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the court’s three liberal justices to form a majority.
The disagreement among the justices appears to be mostly about procedure, with the majority writing in a brief unsigned order that Yeshiva should return to state court to seek quick review and temporary relief while the case continues.
If it gets neither from state courts, the school can return to the Supreme Court, the majority wrote.
Four conservative justices dissented, in an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that said recognition should have been kept on hold because Yeshiva has made a strong case that its First Amendment religious rights have been violated.
The Constitution “prohibits a State from enforcing its own preferred interpretation of Holy Scripture. Yet that is exactly what New York has done in this case, and it is disappointing that a majority of this Court refuses to provide relief,” Alito wrote. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett joined his opinion.
The upshot, Alito wrote, is that Yeshiva probably will have to recognize the Pride Alliance “for at least some period of time (and perhaps for a lengthy spell).”
On Friday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor signed the order that put things on hold and indicated the court would have more to say on the topic.
The university, an Orthodox Jewish institution in New York, argued that granting recognition to the Pride Alliance, “would violate its sincere religious beliefs.”
The club argued that Yeshiva’s plea to the Supreme Court was premature, also noting the university already has recognized a gay pride club at its law school.
A New York state court sided with the student group and ordered the university to recognize the club immediately. The matter remains on appeal in the state court system, but judges there refused to put the order on hold in the meantime.
The Supreme Court has been very receptive to religious freedom claims in recent years.
In June, conservatives who hold a 6-3 majority struck down a Maine program prohibiting state funds from being spent at religious schools and ruled a high school football coach in Washington state has the right to pray on the field after games.
(AP)
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15 Responses
Rejected on a technicality, without regards to facts.
All the Supreme Court said is that since it is a state case they have to finish the litigation in state courts and then appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The YWN headline writer is not a good advertisement for the quality of civics education in frum schools (probably due to their reliance on misguided public school teachers who moonlight for secular studies). What was blocked was an attempt to appeal to the federal Supreme Court before finishing the litigation in the New York courts – the decision had NOTHING to do with the substantive issue.
יום המר Tragic Day
Disgraceful!
What a shaanda!
Sad day for Torah observance!
Considering the MOnicks lined up with the New York Slimes in their hit piece against REAL Yeshivas, it looks like unfortunately the folks at the bastion of MO got what they deserved.
I guess everyone is going to be given a bell, a Tinkerbell.
akuperma: Please elaborate on the “misguided public school teachers who moonlight for secular studies”. What exactly makes them misguided?
akuperma, THANK YOU for clearing up the confusion of the what seemed like a catastrophic situation for b’nei yeshiva who wish an education in a Torah environment. To some degree YU professes to be just that to some degree for many.
Shame on YU they hold themselves of observance and they already had a gay club and now a lgtbq club. How does this work with the Torah exactly? There is a reason to stay far away from YU. Disgusting to Judaism.
A house built on a rotten foundation is bound to collapse. YU reaps the fruit it has sown. Sad.
I can’t swear but all I can say if any jew lives in America they may as well live in Persia….or H*ll……suffer you own consequences not interested and yes please remove all the jewish rainbows from our Yeshivas so our straight and honest men can learn without feeling threatened and hustled….I will never pray for a LGBTQ to be healed or saved….according of course to your description
Knew Rebbetzin Amy would stay strong.
Why did YU recognize the club in their law school thereby giving the Supreme Court an excuse?
What happened to separation of religion and state?
I thought that we are free to practice our religion here.
The university part of YU is mixed up. That is an old story. However, the yeshiva part, RIETS, one would expect would be somewhat better, and indeed that was somewhat the case, for some time. However, now, it also is severely compromised, especially in this area, as its dean, “Rabbi” Marc (Menachem) Penner, runs an organization which promotes acceptance of toeiva’niks within the Orthodox community. Another prominent RIETS personality, mashgiach “Rabbi” Josh Blass, is employed by and works with Penner in that organization.
Shame on these people. They belong perhaps in YCT, JTSA, or HUC, not RIETS. Rav Yitzchok Elchonon zt”l must be proverbially turning over in his grave, and demanding בקהלם אל תחד כבודי, remove my name from your seminary whose dean and a mashgiach thereof promotes acceptance of toeivah.
To Ari Knoler: Re: misguided public school teachers”
1. In New York City (where most frum Jews currently or until recently lived), most frum schools’ secular studies teachers are public school teachers (either moonlighting, or retired from teaching) who were trained in either the City University of New York or Columbia University’s Teachers College. For multiple generations, this means the secular studies were trained, at least in history and social studies, in programs with a Marxist orientation (today we would say “woke”, there isn’t much of a difference). Since we use those teachers (rather than training frum teachers in secular subjects) and use public school textbooks (rather than writing, and paying for our own), the social studies our students get reflect a strong left wing indoctrination.
2. Part of that leftist/Marxist/WOKE indoctrination is to emphasize the importance of the Federal government, and denigrate the importance of the states. That explains the YWN headline that mistook a procedural ruling about Yeshiva University asking for an injunction in the wrong court for a substantive ruling on whether they can ban a student group (and/or expel the students) for advocacy of an anti-Torah position.