Religious Entities Flex Their Muscles Through the Roberts Court, Playing Both Sides of the Discrimination Coin

MARCI A. HAMILTON

Marci A. Hamilton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the country’s leading church-state scholars, describe how legal entities wielded their religious identity as both a shield and a sword last term before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hamilton points out that religious entities won key cases that allow them to receive from government funding while enjoying exemptions from neutral generally applicable non-discrimination laws.

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Linardon v. United States Department of Housing & Urban Development

Docket: SJC-12940

Opinion Date: July 31, 2020

Judge: Per Curiam

Areas of Law: Civil Rights

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order of the single justice denying Plaintiff's motion asking the single justice to find Defendants and the superior court in contempt of a Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 4A transfer order, holding that there was no error or abuse of discretion in denying the motion for contempt. Plaintiff filed a complaint in the county court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and damages against the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) based on a claim of housing discrimination. The single justice transferred the complaint to the superior court pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 4A. From there, the case was removed to the federal court. The federal court dismissed the claims against HUD and remanded the claims against the BHA to the superior court. Plaintiff then filed a motion in the county court asking the single justice to find Defendants and the superior court in contempt of the transfer order. The single justice denied the motion without a hearing. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that the single justice correctly denied the motion for contempt.