Kavanaugh: Supreme Court made ‘important strides’ for religious freedom in recent years

Ahead of the United States Supreme Court’s newest term, Justice Brett Kavanaugh lauded recent court decisions that have protected religious liberty and halted discrimination against religious organizations. 

During an event hosted by the Center for the Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT) at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, Kavanaugh said religious liberty is “one area in the six years I’ve been on the court that I think we’ve made — in my view — correct and important strides.”

Kavanaugh, who was nominated to the court by former president Donald Trump in 2018, is one of the six Catholic justices on the Supreme Court. He made the comments during an hourlong interview on Sept. 26 by CIT Director J. Joel Alicea. 

During the talk, Kavanaugh referenced four cases specifically: the 2017 Trinity Lutheran decision, the 2020 Espinoza decision, the 2022 Shurtleff decision, and the 2022 Carson decision.

All four cases dealt with government discrimination against religious institutions and answered questions about the First Amendment. 

In Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, and Carson, the Supreme Court ruled that governments cannot deny public benefits or public money to religious organizations simply because they have a religious affiliation. This means that school voucher programs and other government funding programs that are available to secular organizations must also be available to religious ones.

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