The Spirit Lake Tribe of Indians, by its Committee of Understanding and Respect, and Archie Fool Bear, individually and as representative of more than 1,004 members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe – collectively, “the Committeeâ€� – sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for interfering with the University of North Dakota’s use of the Fighting Sioux name, logo, and image... More...   $0 (05-29-2013 - ND)

American Atheists, Inc. sued the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and World Trade Center Memorial Foundation/National September 11 Memorial And Museum claiming that the display of a cross-shaped steel beam found in the World Trade Center's rubble constituted an endorsement of Christianity, diminishing the contributions of non-Christian rescuers in violation of the Constitution.
More...   $0 (03-30-2013 - NY)

Atheists of Florida and Ellenbeth Wachs, Director of the Lakeland Chapter
of the Atheists of Florida, (collectively “AOF�), appeal from the district court’s
order denying their motion for summary judgment and granting summary
judgment in favor of the City of Lakeland, Florida and its mayor, Gow Fields,
(collectively “Lakelandâ€� or “Lakeland Cityâ€�) in this action filed ... More...   $0 (03-26-2013 - FL)

For many years, the City of Warren, Michigan, has put up a holiday display in the atrium of its civic center between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. The display includes a range of secular and religious symbols—a lighted tree, reindeer, snowmen, a “Winter Welcomeâ€� sign and a nativity scene among them. In 2010, the Freedom from Religion Foundation wrote a series of letters to the Mayor of Warr... More...   $0 (02-25-2013 - MI)

Martin Roberts appeals from a divorce decree dissolving the marriage between Martin and Margaret Roberts signed on July 15, 2011. On appeal, Martin complains of the trial court’s award to Margaret of (1) reimbursement of separate property funds expended towards the mortgage on the marital residence, and (2) spousal maintenance. Although both parents were designated as joint managing conservators... More...   $0 (12-24-2012 - TX)

This appeal presents the primary question whether two leases of land by the City of San Diego to the Desert Pacific Council, a nonprofit corporation chartered by the Boy Scouts of America, violate provisions of the California or federal Constitutions relating to the Establishment of Religion or the denial of Equal Protection of the Laws. Additional issues concern claims that the Council’s action... More...   $0 (12-22-2012 - CA)

The defendants have filed interlocutory appeals from an order of the district court granting a preliminary injunction in favor of plaintiff, an association of individual members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and beneficiaries of a charitable religious trust (“FLDS Associationâ€�). After granting the defendants’ motion for an emergency stay pending resolution... More...   $0 (11-06-2012 - UT)

Philip E. Cannata brought suit against the Catholic Diocese of Austin and St. John Neumann Catholic Church (“Appellees� or “the church�), alleging that the church terminated him in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA�) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA�).

The district court dismissed the suit based on the ministerial exception, which bars... More...   $0 (10-24-2012 - TX)

¶1 In this case we are asked to answer a certified question from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit concerning the preclusive effect of a decision like that in Funda-mentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Lindberg, 2010 UT 51, 238 P.3d 1054. The state law question presented focuses specifically on whether our ―discretionary review of a petition for extrao... More...   $0 (10-05-2012 - OK)

Until the eve of oral argument, the City of Holly Springs, Mississippi, had on its books a zoning ordinance that explicitly singled out “churchesâ€� for unfavorable treatment, albeit not for the outright banning of their presence from particular locations. The night before we heard argument, Holly Springs amended its ordinance, this time to ban “[c]hurches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and ot... More...   $0 (09-28-2012 - MS)

A group of past and present students and their parents (collectively, the “Doesâ€�) brought this action against the School District of Elmbrook (the “Districtâ€�), claiming that the District’s practice of holding high school graduations and related ceremonies at a non-denominational, evangelical Christian church was violative of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution of the United Stat... More...   $0 (07-23-2012 - WI)

In 2008, the Illinois General Assembly passed a $5 million appropriation for a grant program to be administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (the Department).

Robert Sherman, an atheist, discovered that among the grants the Department chose to issue was a $20,000 transfer to Friends of the Cross (Friends) for the restoration of an enormous Latin cross know... More...   $0 (06-04-2012 - IL)

Government displays of the Ten Commandments sometimes will violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, see McCreary Cnty., Ky. v. ACLU of Ky., 545 U.S. 844 (2005), other times they will not, see Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 577 (2005).

This appeal presents the question whether a city commission’s adoption of an initiated ordinance that in effect countermanded the commissionâ€... More...   $0 (05-25-2012 - ND)

The facts in this opinion are drawn from the allegations in the complaint. No trial has occurred. Neither party has presented evidence, and no facts have been found by a factfinder. Because this case comes to us as an appeal from a denial of a motion to dismiss, the applicable standard of review requires us to presume that the allegations in the complaint are true. Our decision to include in this ... More...   $0 (05-24-2012 - TN)

Since 1999, the Town of Greece, New York, has begun its Town Board meetings with a short prayer. In 2008, town residents Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens brought suit against the town and Town Supervisor John Auberger in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, asserting that aspects of this prayer practice violated the Establishment Clause. The district court (Charl... More...   $0 (05-17-2012 - NY)

This motion to dismiss an appeal in a case arising under the First Amendment’s establishment clause presents a novel jurisdictional issue: whether a municipal land use case can come within the exception to the doctrine of mootness for cases that are capable of repetition yet elude review. There is also an issue of timeliness.

The City of South Bend bought a tract of land with the intentio... More...   $0 (02-07-2012 - IN)

This case involves the scope of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine and whether the district court properly applied that doctrine to appellant’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims. In April 2007, appellant Bryan Brown applied for admission to the Indiana Bar. As part of his application process, the Indiana Board of Law Examiners (BLE) requested that Brown attend hearings to investigate his application and also re... More...   $0 (02-02-2012 - IN)

This appeal presents us with a difficult issue of first impression. John Doe, a registered sex offender, brought a facial challenge under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to a ban enacted by the City of Albuquerque that prohibited registered sex offenders from entering the City’s public libraries. The district court denied a motion to dismiss brought by the City and ultimately granted summary... More...   $0 (01-20-2012 - NM)

On November 2, 2010, Oklahoma voters approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would prevent Oklahoma state courts from considering or using Sharia law. Before the amendment can become effective, the Oklahoma State Election Board must certify this election result. The Board members have asked us to review whether a federal district court abused its discretion when it granted a preliminary ... More...   $0 (01-10-2012 - OK)

This case is one of many arising from claims that the federal government, with the assistance of major telecommunications companies, engaged in widespread warrantless eavesdropping in the United States following the September 11, 2001, attacks. At issue in this appeal is whether Carolyn Jewel and other residential telephone customers (collectively “Jewelâ€�) have standing to bring their statutor... More...   $0 (12-29-2011 - CA)

Appellee Mayson, who had been employed at a nonprofit facility, open to the public, that was run by religious entities associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church), was discharged because he failed to qualify for a certificate that he was a member of the Church and eligible to attend its temples. He, with other individuals purporting to represent a class, brought an a... More...   $0 (12-07-2011 - DC)

APPELLEES' ANSWER BRIEF

This answer brief is jointly filed by the City of Tulsa, Kathy Taylor, the Tulsa Stadium
Trust and the intervening property owners (collectively, when appropriate, the "appellees"). For
the reasons addressed below, this Court should reject the appeal in its entirety.

NATURE OF THE CONTROVERSY

Downtown Tulsa is a clearly delin... More...   $0 (11-30-2011 - OK)

We consider whether a public school district infringes the First Amendment liberties of one of its teachers when it orders him not to use his public position as a pulpit from which to preach his own views on the role of God in our Nation’s history to the captive students in his mathematics classroom. The answer is clear: it does not.

When Bradley Johnson, a high school calculus teacher, g... More...   $0 (09-13-2011 - CA)

A group of pseudonymous plaintiffs, referring to themselves as Does 1 through 9, brought this action against the Elmbrook School District (“the Districtâ€�) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. They alleged that the District’s practice of holding high school graduation ceremonies and related events at a Christian church rented by the District for the occas... More...   $0 (09-09-2011 - WI)