Legal Spirits

In this episode of Legal Spirits, we examine a new Washington State law that eliminates the clergy-penitent privilege in child abuse reporting. The law requires clergy to report suspected abuse, even if they learn about it through Confession and other confidential spiritual communications—raising serious questions under the Free Exercise Clause. Host Mark Movsesian and guest Marc… The post Legal Spirits 067: Confession and the Constitution appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

We're back after a bit of a hiatus with a new Legal Spirits episode. Center Director Mark Movsesian talks with Professors Andrea Pin and Luca Vanoni about the International Moot Court Competition in Law and Religion, an annual event that gathers law students from the US and Europe to argue a case before panels representing… The post Legal Spirits 066: The International Moot Court Competition in Law & Religion appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Fordham Law Professors Sean Griffith and Richard Squire join Mattone Center Director Mark Movsesian to talk about their experience leading a discussion of CS Lewis's Mere Christianity in a student reading group this past semester. Sean and Richard discuss their goals in establishing the group, their students' response to Lewis–in particular, his… The post Legal Spirits 065: Reading CS Lewis in Law School appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Ever since President Ronald Reagan popularized the phrase in the 1980s, American leaders have referred to the United States as the “shining city on a hill.” Reagan adapted the phrase from John Winthrop, the 17th century governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who himself took it from the Gospel of Matthew. But the message has… The post Legal Spirits 064: A City Upon a Hill appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In September 2023, in violation of an order from the International Court of Justice, Azerbaijan ethnically cleansed the region of Nagorno-Karabakh of its 120,000 Christian Armenian inhabitants. In this episode, human-rights attorney Karnig Kerkonian describes the events of a year ago and efforts to hold Azerbaijan responsible in international forums. He also explains the role… The post Legal Spirits 063: Ethnic Cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, One Year Later appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

When the Cedar Grove School District in New Jersey surveyed students about their religious identities and other sensitive matters, St. John's Law Professor Patricia Montana went into action. She and other parents sued the district for violating student privacy laws, including the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, a federal statute. Last month, the US Department… The post Legal Spirits 062: Can a Public School Ask Kids to State Their Religion? appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Last month, in a much-watched case, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a new Catholic charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause–and, alternatively, that denying St. Isidore a charter does not violate the school's rights under the Free Exercise Clause. In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian… The post Legal Spirits 061: Is a Catholic Charter School Constitutional? appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian interviews religion journalist Kelsey Dallas about the controversy that arose last month when the National Park Service refused to allow the Knights of Columbus to celebrate an annual Memorial Day Mass at a national cemetery in Virginia. The Park Service said it was enforcing the rules against “demonstrations”;… The post Legal Spirits 060: Memorial Day, the Knights of Columbus, and the National Park Service appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian interviews journalist Daniel McCarthy on his recent essay in Modern Age, “The Other Nones.” Dan argues that the decline of traditional Christianity in the West hasn't led to the age of rationalism and progress that many secularists predicted, but instead to an age of entropy, in which people… The post Legal Spirits 059: Daniel McCarthy on “the Other Nones” appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

First performed 400 years ago, William Shakespeare's “Measure for Measure” addresses an enduring human dilemma. No society can safely exist without law, but law itself depends on human judgment, which is prone to error and corruption. In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian and Northwestern Law Professor John McGinnis discuss this great but problematic play… The post Legal Spirits 058: Law & Justice in Shakespeare's “Measure for Measure” appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian interviews historian Richard Brookhiser about his new documentary, “Free Exercise: America's Story of Religious Liberty.” How have minority religions tested and shaped America's commitment to religious freedom over the centuries–and how has America changed those religions in return? From the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657 until now, it has… The post Legal Spirits 057: Historian Richard Brookhiser on Religious Freedom in America appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, we discuss a bill pending in New York that would require future fast food restaurants at rest stops on the State Thruway to open seven days a week. The bill expressly targets Chick-fil-A, which closes on Sundays in line with the owners' religious commitments. Does the bill violate Chick-fil-A's free exercise rights… The post Legal Spirits 056: Can the NY State Thruway Ban Chick-fil-A? appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In a TV interview last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson raised eyebrows by asserting that Framers welcomed religion in public life and that the Establishment Clause protects religion from the encroachment of government, not the other way around. In this podcast, we show how Johnson was both right and wrong. Many Framers shared his view,… The post Legal Spirits 055: Speaker Mike Johnson on the Separation of Church and State appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Recently, many people have been talking about classical law–specifically whether classical law, with its focus on Christian universals and natural law concepts, can make a comeback in American law schools. Will classical law have traction in an academy dominated by positivism, law-and-economics, and critical theories? Would it be a good thing if it did? We're… The post Legal Spirits 054: Is Classical Law Due for a Comeback? appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Welcome back! In our first Legal Spirits episode of the academic year, we interview our friend, law professor Tom Berg (University of St. Thomas) about his new book, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age. We explore how fights about religious liberty both reflect and contribute to the deep social division in the US today–but also… The post Legal Spirits 053: Tom Berg on Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In our traditional end-of-term wrap up, Marc and Mark discuss the Supreme Court's decisions in two cases: Groff v. DeJoy, the Title VII religious accommodations case, and 303 Creative v. Elenis, the website designer case. Were these simple cases masquerading as complicated ones? Do they suggest the Court is rethinking its views on free speech,… The post Legal Spirits 052: SCOTUS Decides Groff and 303 Creative appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Marc and Mark offer some thoughts about the Biden Administration Department of Education's guidance issued earlier this month (the first since 2020) on prayer and religious expression in public schools. The new guidance largely avoids much discussion of the newest Supreme Court decision on the matter, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, and… The post Legal Spirits 051: The Biden Administration's Guidance on Prayer in Public Schools appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Marc and Mark discuss the background and recent oral argument before the Supreme Court in Groff v. DeJoy, a case about religious accommodation in the workplace under Title VII. The case involves a postal worker who observes Sunday sabbath and who was disciplined by the United States Postal Service after a dispute… The post Legal Spirits 050: Groff v. DeJoy and Religious Accommodation in the Workplace appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this podcast, Marc and Mark discuss some of the common themes in two books that we recently read and reflected on with our students in the Center's Reading Society: Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz and Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. The themes include the nature and value… The post Legal Spirits 049: A Canticle for Leibowitz & After Virtue appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Last month, the Center co-sponsored a panel, “The Rise of the Nones and American Law,” featuring Professors Steven Collis (University of Texas), Mark Movsesian (St. John's) and Gregory Sisk (University of St. Thomas–Minnesota). The panel explored how the explosion in the numbers of the religiously unaffiliated in contemporary America might affect jurisprudence under the Religion… The post Legal Spirits 048: The Rise of the Nones and American Law appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

For our first podcast of 2023, we are delighted to welcome Professor Nicholas Aroney of the University of Queensland Law School, a distinguished constitutional law scholar who has co-edited (with Professor Ian Leigh) a new book just published by Oxford University Press: Christianity and Constitutionalism. Marc and Mark interview him about the book's themes, scope,… The post Legal Spirits Episode 047: “Christianity and Constitutionalism” appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Last month, a federal court ruled that New York could constitutionally restrict the sale of alcohol when New Year's falls on a Sunday, as it will this year. In our final podcast of 2022, we discuss this ruling and the Supreme Court's longstanding view that Sunday alcohol restrictions and closing laws do not violate the… The post Legal Spirits Episode 046: Sunday Closing Laws and New Year's Eve appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Next week, the Supreme Court will hear argument in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, an important case that pits free speech rights against anti-discrimination laws. A Christian web designer has challenged Colorado's public accommodations law, arguing that the law will require her to design sites for same-sex weddings and convey messages with which she disagrees.… The post Legal Spirits Episode 045: 303 Creative at SCOTUS Next Week appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Mark interviews Marc about his new article, “Traditionalism Rising,” on an important, emerging method of constitutional interpretation embraced by the Supreme Court across the domains of constitutional law, including in law and religion, and especially so in the most recent term. Marc explains some of the basics of the method, which emphasizes… The post Legal Spirits Episode 044: Traditionalism Rising appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Marc interviews Mark about his new article, “The New Thoreaus,” on the rise of the Nones and its impact on free-exercise law. Fifty years ago, in Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Supreme Court famously dismissed the idea that a solitary seeker–the Court gave the 19th Century Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau as an example–could… The post Legal Spirits Episode 043: The New Thoreaus appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

The October 2021 term has ended with a bang. In this episode, we discuss the Court's rulings in two significant church-and-state cases: Carson v. Makin, the Maine school funding case, and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the case of the football coach who prayed at the 50-yard line. We explain how the Court ruled in… The post Legal Spirits Episode 042: Two Blockbuster Decisions at SCOTUS appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode of Legal Spirits, Center Co-Directors Mark Movsesian and Marc DeGirolami explore C.S. Lewis's great essay on the calling of the Christian scholar, “Learning in War-Time.” Lewis wrote the essay at the start of World War II, but it continues to speak to students and faculty today–Christian and non-Christian. As Lewis observes, “human… The post Legal Spirits Episode 041: Learning in War-Time appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Center Co-Directors Marc DeGirolami and Mark Movsesian explore another law and religion case recently argued at the Supreme Court, Shurtleff v. City of Boston, concerning whether a municipality can decline a private group's request to fly a religious flag on a city hall flagpole pursuant to a policy where it flies flags… The post Legal Spirits Episode 040: Raising the Christian Flag at City Hall appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, Center Co-Directors Marc DeGirolami and Mark Movsesian explore the Court's decision last week to cert grant in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which a high school football coach challenges his employer's decision to discipline him for praying on the field after games. The case, which we discussed in an episode three… The post Legal Spirits Episode 039: Praying on the 50-Yard Line (Again) appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, one of his “problem plays,” has long fascinated lawyers. Yet the legal arguments in the case are preposterous. In this episode, we discuss how Shakespeare uses an absurd legal dispute to illustrate deeper religious and political conflicts and speculate about the implications of the play for America today. Perhaps the… The post Legal Spirits Episode 038: Law & Religion in “The Merchant of Venice” appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, we tackle a recent set of challenges by religious objectors in New York to government imposed vaccine mandates. We run through some of the background in these cases, examine some of the comments by New York Governor Kathleen Hochul concerning religion and these mandates, and take a look at the relevant law… The post Legal Spirits Episode 037: The NY COVID Vaccine Mandates and Religious Exemptions appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, we look at the biggest law and religion case at the Supreme Court last term, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, and the two most significant such cases on the Court's docket for the new term so far. The first, Carson v. Makin, looks like it could be a major case on the… The post Legal Spirits 036: Looking Back and Ahead at Law and Religion Cases at the Supreme Court appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, we talk with Gerald Russello of the University Bookman about his decades-long career editing the influential conservative review of books. Gerald talks about his plans for the Bookman, the varieties of American conservatism, his own intellectual journey and embrace of traditionalism, and the future of the American right. It's a fascinating discussion.… The post Legal Spirits Episode 035: With Gerald Russello of the University Bookman appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, author Sohrab Ahmari joins us to talk about his just-released book, “The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos.” We discuss Sohrab’s inspiration for the book, the benefits of received wisdom, and the paradox of following a tradition in 21st-century America. Listen in! The post Legal Spirits Episode 034: An Interview with Sohrab Ahmari appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, we discuss Augustine’s City of God and its meaning for American politics today. What does Augustine’s famous metaphor of the two cities–the City of God and the City of Man–suggest about Christians’ place in 21st Century America? And what about his definition of a people as a group united by common loves?… The post Legal Spirits Episode 033: Augustine and Our Common Loves appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, we interview Italian political scientist Lorenzo Castellani about his new book, “The Gear of Power” (L’Ingranaggio del Potere), which explores the rise of the “technocacy”–a new aristocracy, based on technical expertise, that increasingly dominates politics in the West. We discuss how claims of neutral expertise can mask underlying (and contested) moral commitments,… The post Legal Spirits Episode 032: The New Technocracy appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this podcast, Center Co-Directors Marc DeGirolami and Mark Movsesian reflect on the religious imagery in last month’s inauguration and how it fits within the American tradition of civil religion. They also ask whether the new administration reflects the rise of the Religious Left: a political coalition of progressive believers, including progressive Catholics like President… The post Legal Spirits Episode 031: The Biden Inauguration, Civil Religion & the Religious Left appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court recently granted a preliminary injunction against New York’s restrictions on church gatherings during the continuing Covid epidemic. In this episode, we discuss the case, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, and explore its implications for similar cases pending at the Court. We also ask why these… The post Legal Spirits Episode 030: Supreme Court Blocks NY’s Covid Restrictions on Churches appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

What is the anthropology–the account of human nature and human flourishing–that grounds the American law of bioethics? Is it an appealing one, or are there problems with it? In our latest podcast with Professor O. Carter Snead of the University of Notre Dame Law School, we probe these and related questions in his recently released… The post Legal Spirits Episode 029: “What It Means to Be Human”–a Discussion with Professor Carter Snead appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, involving a dispute between Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia, a foster-care placement agency, and the City of Philadelphia with respect to the former’s request for a religious accommodation from a local nondiscrimination provision in carrying out foster care placement. In this […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 028: Oral Argument in Fulton v. Philadelphia appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

What are the primary sources of American notions of toleration: the Enlightenment or early Christianity? And why do so many see cultural parallels between America today and late imperial Rome? In our latest podcast, we chat with Professor Jed Atkins, a professor of classics at Duke University about these and other questions related to the […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 027: Contemporary America and Late Imperial Rome appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, recorded especially for our 1Ls at St. John’s (and law students everywhere!), we explore legal themes in the classic film about Thomas More, “A Man for All Seasons” (1966). How far can law protect an individual from state and social coercion? And to what extent must a lawyer submerge his or her […] The post Legal Spirits 026: Law in “A Man for All Seasons” appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this podcast, we discuss the end of the Supreme Court’s term, which included a number of important cases related to law and religion–Bostock, Espinoza, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Little Sisters of the Poor. We take a big picture, thematic approach to these cases, talk about who won and who lost, and speculate about […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 025: Supreme Court Law and Religion Roundup appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this followup to Episode 22, we discuss new developments in litigation over government orders to close churches during the COVID-19 epidemic, including a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. We ask whether local authorities continue to merit judicial deference and whether courts should decide what sort of worship services should satisfy believers. Listen in! The post Legal Spirits Episode 024: Church Closings in the Time of Coronavirus–Part II appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Kelsey Dallas, the national religion reporter for the Deseret News, is one of the best religion journalists writing today: thorough, fair, and insightful. In this episode, she joins us to explains why, after getting a graduate degree in religion from Yale, she left academics to become a reporter, and why she finds American religion so […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 023: Journalist Kelsey Dallas on Religion in America Today appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, many state and local governments have banned “non-essential” gatherings of more than 10 people, including religious services. In this episode of Legal Spirits, Center Co-Directors Marc DeGirolami and Mark Movsesian discuss several recent cases, like one involving the On Fire Christian Church in Louisville Kentucky, in which (mostly Evangelical) […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 022: Church Closings in the Time of Coronavirus appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

The Little Sisters of the Poor are litigants before the Supreme Court once more, this time as intervening defendants in an action by Pennsylvania and New Jersey against the federal government. The factual issue is a set of regulations adopted by the federal government that fully exempt organizations like the Little Sisters from the “contraception […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 021: The New Little Sisters of the Poor Case (featuring Prof. Kevin Walsh) appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

The Supreme Court has granted cert. on a potentially major case for the scope of the Free Exercise Clause and the relationship between rights of religious liberty and rights of LGBT persons. The case is Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, and it concerns Catholic Social Services, a foster agency and part of the Archdiocese of […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 020: A New Case That May Alter Free Exercise Doctrine appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Late last month, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Espinoza v. Montana Dep’t of Revenue, a case on the constitutionality of a Montana school-choice program that allows parents to direct state-funded scholarships to religiously affiliated schools. The Montana Supreme Court ruled that the program violated the state constitution’s “Blaine Amendment,” which prohibits the appropriation […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 019: Oral Argument in the Blaine Amendments Case appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this episode, we discuss the Court’s cert grant in two consolidated cases on the ministerial exception: St. James Church v. Biel and Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru. The cases will require the Court to clarify the definition of “minister,” a question the Court left open six years ago in Hosanna-Tabor. Center Co-Directors […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 018: SCOTUS Takes a Pair of Cases on the Ministerial Exception appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

In this podcast, we discuss the Second Circuit opinion in Tanzin v. Tanvir, the Supreme Court’s second law-and-religion case this term, about whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act contemplates liability for individual federal officers. Along the way, we consider some of the divided cultural backdrop against which this somewhat technical question will be decided. Listen […] The post Legal Spirits Episode 017: Tanzin v. Tanvir and Individual Liability Under RFRA appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.