The Supreme Court of the United States reversed, Wednesday, September 14, its decision in favor of a Jewish university which refuses to give the status of student association to a group of young homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders. Emergency entry, the high court suspended a judge’s decision on Friday ordering Yeshiva University of New York to register the student club “Yeshiva Pride alliance” in the fall of 2022.
She finally ruled that the establishment had not exhausted all available remedies at the state level and reversed her first judgment. If the university is unsuccessful at this level, “She can come back to this Court”she adds, however, suggesting that the legal tussle is far from over.
Four of its magistrates – out of nine – dissociated themselves from this decision. “The First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion and (…) prohibits the State from imposing its own reading of the Holy Scriptures”argue these conservative judges. “It is our duty to protect the Constitution, even if it is controversial”they continue.
Broad debate around respect for religious freedoms
Yeshiva University, founded at the end of the 19the century “to promote the study of the Talmud”, welcomes around 5,000 students and offers diplomas in subjects as varied as biology, psychology or accounting. In 2018, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) students formed the Yeshiva Pride Alliance group and sought to become an institution-approved association so that they could, among other things, organize conferences or meetings.
Seized by the group, a New York judge had given him reason in the name of a local law prohibiting discrimination. University officials then turned to the Supreme Court. “As a deeply religious Jewish university, Yeshiva cannot comply with this order because it violates its sincere religious beliefs on the values of Torah to impart to students”she pleaded in her appeal.
This confrontation is part of a broad debate in the United States on the balance between respect for religious freedoms and the principles of non-discrimination. Authorization of prayers on sports fields, to subsidize denominational schools or to display a Christian flag on a town hall: the Supreme Court, profoundly overhauled by former President Donald Trump, has rendered several decisions in recent months which lean in favor religions.
In June, she also revoked her judgment guaranteeing the right to abortion, fought for nearly fifty years by the religious right.