RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND PARENTAL RIGHTS. In Royce v. Bonta, California has taken the extreme position of excluding children from public and private schools when their families have religious objections to vaccination. Our case is awaiting a Ninth Circuit decision. 

The White House has also issued an Executive Order directing renewed attention to parental authority, religious freedom, school vaccine requirements, and meritorious legal challenges involving religious exemptions. It does not decide Royce, but it underscores that these constitutional concerns are receiving national attention. 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE WORKPLACE. In Tennessee, we are defending Christian attorney Shea Hasenauer, who, after reporting sexual harassment and requesting equal treatment for Christians, was terminated by his law firm at the very next meeting after praying with a colleague. Despite excellent reviews and a promotion to Senior Associate, his case asks whether a workplace may penalize an employee for living out his Christian faith.

FREE SPEECH AND THE SANCTITY OF LIFE. In Michigan, we represent a high school student and the Skyline High School Republican Club after Ann Arbor Public Schools refused to broadcast their announcement opposing Proposal 3, a pro-abortion ballot initiative, while allowing students to promote the opposing view. 

The case asks whether students may speak in defense of unborn life without being silenced because school officials disagree with them. We are defending free speech, equal protection, viewpoint neutrality, and the right of young people to advocate for the dignity and value of every human life, School Republican Club including the unborn. 

FAITH AND FREE SPEECH UNDER FIRE. In Missouri, Advocates represents Grace Church congregant Rachel Homolak after she and the church were sued over a Civic Engagement panel addressing community concerns, including gender ideology and children. The court dismissed every defamation and conspiracy claim, reaffirming that churches and citizens do not surrender their First Amendment rights when speaking about their communities. 

Religious liberty cannot stop at the church door. Believers must remain free to pray, speak, work, and participate in public life without being punished for their faith.

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE. In California, we represent Chino Valley Unified School District in its effort to lift a longstanding federal injunction prohibiting the school board from opening meetings with prayer or invocation. Rooted in the now-rejected Lemon test, the injunction is being challenged under the Supreme Court’s modern Establishment Clause jurisprudence. 

We are also helping Christian educators navigate mandatory PRISM training. Teachers whose sincerely held religious beliefs conflict with portions of the State’s gender-identity and sexuality training can use our sample religious accommodation request to seek protection without surrendering their convictions. 

STANDING FOR TRUTH AND FAIRNESS. In our Save Girls‘ Sports cases, we are fighting to preserve fairness, opportunity, and biological reality for women and girls. We represent female athletes who have lost opportunities under policies allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports. Following the Supreme Court’s recent Title IX victory, we have filed briefs applying that ruling to our cases and continue moving forward in discovery. 

These battles are different, but the question is the same: 

What are we willing to preserve?

For us, the answer is clear: our faith, the rights of parents, the dignity of human life, biological truth, and the constitutional freedoms that allow us to boldly live out and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Preservation requires prayer, courage, legal action, and partners willing to invest in the fight. 

As we prepare for our America’s 250th Anniversary Gala on September 10, we are not simply celebrating what has been handed down to us. We are deciding what we are willing to hand down to those who come after us. 

In Christ,

Erin Mersino
Vice President and Chief
of Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation