What I struggle with most as I cover the Supreme Court
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For me, the hardest part of writing about religion-related Supreme Court cases is not interviewing lawyers or reading court documents or explaining legal concepts.
It’s also not waking up early on days when the court is in session or coming up with accurate but still interesting headlines.
For me, the hardest part of writing about those cases is explaining why the lawsuit exists in the first place, especially when it focuses on a religious belief or behavior that’s widely challenged or at least not widely understood.
Consider the several recent Supreme Court battles over birth control.
At the root of those cases were faith-based objections to contraception, which many Americans are aware of even if they don’t have any themselves. What many Americans didn’t understand is why those objections persisted even when the government excused faith-based employers from providing birth control in company health plans so long as they communicated their concerns to the government.
In other words, the challenging part was explaining how someone can still feel complicit in a sin even when all they did was explain to the government why they felt it was a sin.
I’ve thought of those birth control battles several times as I’ve prepared to cover the Supreme Court’s final religion case of this term, which centers on a man who won’t work on Sundays. Gerald Groff argues his former employer, the U.S. Postal Service, should have accommodated his beliefs about the Sabbath, instead of pressuring him to take Sunday shifts.
I don’t doubt that most of my readers are aware of the idea of the Sabbath, even if they don’t observe one themselves. But I do doubt that the average person understands what it’s like to be so passionate about resting on the Sabbath that you’d spend years locked into a legal battle that makes it all the way to the Supreme Court.
As I wrestled with how to explain Groff’s beliefs, my husband unknowingly gave me a major assist. He sent me an ESPN article about a Jewish high schooler who is so focused on honoring God during his Sabbath that he skipped the state cross-country championships over the objections of his teammates, his coach and his own mom.
The article, by Sam Borden, does a masterful job explaining what it’s like to hold an uncommon belief, as well as what it feels like to consider violating that belief in order to avoid conflict and drama.
Oh, and it also has a lovely happy ending.
I’m confident I won’t do nearly as good of a job writing about Groff’s plight as ESPN did covering Oliver Ferber, but the article gives me hope that it’s possible to get readers to understand why someone is doing something that they’d never do themselves.
In case you’re interested, here are two other great stories about young athletes who are passionate about observing the Sabbath:
Longing for a shot at the majors, but sitting out on the Sabbath, The New York Times
Ryan Turell’s pro basketball debut may be on Shabbat. Here’s his game plan, The Forward
Fresh off the press
How to talk to your kids about Easter
What Justice Thomas said about his controversial trips on a private jet and superyacht
How some Jews will honor an imprisoned American journalist during Passover
Term of the week: Trans World Airlines v. Hardison
The Sabbath-focused Supreme Court case I referenced above asks the justices to revisit a case from 1977 called Trans World Airlines v. Hardison. That case centered on a man (Hardison) who lost his job at TWA after a job transfer left him without enough seniority to consistently take Saturdays off to observe his Sabbath. He sued the airline for religious discrimination, arguing that his former employer should have done more to accommodate his faith-based needs.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of TWA, deciding that adjusting a straightforward scheduling system for the benefit of one employee would impose “more than a de minimus cost” on the airline, thus creating an “undue hardship,” according to Justia.
In the new case, Groff, the former postal worker, claims the Hardison ruling was too generous to employers. He and his supporters are fighting for a new decision that gives religious workers more access to accommodations.
What I’m reading ...
Victor Glover brought “prepackaged Communion cups and a physical Bible” with him when he first traveled to space three years ago. When he returns next year on a historic trip to the moon, he plans to pray throughout the journey, according to Christianity Today.
Thanks to small and large donations from thousands of folks, First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, has accomplished something miraculous: It’s paid off the medical debts of around 500 households. “The effort by the church, which according to the Rev. Jim Keck has become known for its ‘out-of-the-box’ ideas, started as $8,000 and a desire to help a few neighbors in need. Fourteen months later, it has raised more than $520,000 in donations,” the Lincoln Journal Star reported over the weekend.
Odds and ends
Did you know that Friday was the 30th anniversary of the release of “The Sandlot”? I had fun editing a great Deseret News story from Margaret Darby on why the movie is so beloved.
