Can a Catholic organization charged by a town hall to place children in foster families exclude homosexual couples in the name of its religious convictions? The United States Supreme Court is considering this sensitive issue on Wednesday.
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The record serves as a test for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic appointed by Donald Trump, who has just been confirmed to this post for life by the Senate, despite strong opposition from Democrats.
His arrival, just a week before Tuesday’s presidential election, solidified the court’s conservative majority, now six out of nine magistrates.
It could weigh on the outcome of the judicial war in which the supporters of an extensive reading of religious freedoms and the defenders of sexual minorities have been engaged for years.
The case at the heart of this latest battle dates back to March 2018, when the city of Philadelphia learned that one of its child welfare providers, Catholic Social Services (CSS), refused. to place minors in hostels for same-sex couples.
The Democratic town hall then decided to no longer entrust him with children.
The agency, via one of its foster mothers, then lodged a complaint, citing the principles of religious freedom and freedom of expression. After losing in federal courts, she turned to the country’s highest court.
“Philadelphia asks that a religious agency (…) speak and act in application of the beliefs of Philadelphia”, she denounces in an argument sent to the Court, considering that this violates the First Amendment of the Constitution which guarantees freedom of religion.
It has received the support of dozens of churches, congressmen and Bible Belt states, but also the Republican government of Donald Trump, for whom Philadelphia has shown “hostility” to religion.
The big city of the North-East retorted demanding from all its partners without exception the signing of a non-discrimination clause.
“The Constitution does not give CSS the right to dictate the terms on which it wants to do the work of the government,” she argued.
She, too, has received many support, including that of the powerful civil rights organization ACLU, which warns of the consequences of a victory for the Catholic agency.
“This would allow private agencies which (…) provide public service missions – foster families, food banks, homeless homes, etc. – to refuse their services to the LGBT community” but also to members of other religious communities, says the ACLU, citing a Christian agency in South Carolina that refuses to place children in Jewish or Muslim families.
The Court will deliver its decision in 2021.