Recently, Joe Biden signed an executive order establishing a Presidential Commission to reform the Supreme Court of the United States. At the top of the list of reforms is to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court. This is often called court-packing, especially when changing the number of justices is done for political purposes. How should the Bible inform our view of court-packing?

Many churches have come into conflict with governing authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. One such instance came between Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in Nevada and Steve Sisolak, Nevada’s governor. He had imposed much harsher restrictions on churches than on casinos and other businesses deemed “essential.”

In 2017, Amy Coney Barrett was pressed by Senate Democrats for her Catholic faith, saying to her that “the dogma lives loudly within you.” She assured them that she “would never impose my own personal convictions upon the law.” But is this correct? Should a judge’s faith be allowed to inform their decisions?

Christians in the media have responded to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a variety of ways. Some Christians may recall to mind some of the decisions that she made as a justice which are starkly at odds with the Christian worldview. Most notable of these opinions was Ginsburg’s belief that all women have a right to an abortion. How should Christians respond to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg as they attempt to sift through the positive and negative aspects of her time as a justice?

The Montana legislature created a scholarship fund used to help low income families attend private schools. People could donate to it in exchange for a tax credit up to $150. Following this, the Montana Department of Revenue created a rule which prohibited these scholarships from being used by parents at religious schools. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue that this limitation was unconstitutional. The government cannot limit the access of religious institutions or schools to funds made generally available to everyone simply because they are religious.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court in Calvary Chapel v. Sisolak denied granting an injunction to churches in Nevada that were seeking to open in a manner similar to other businesses in the state. While some businesses like casinos and restaurants were allowed to have people up to 50% of their total capacity, churches were only allowed to have fifty people total.

In 2017, the Health and Human Services Department under the Trump administration expanded exceptions to mandatory contraceptive coverage to include other organizations which held religious or moral objections to contraception. This was challenged by the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and was argued before the Supreme Court. On July 8, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Little Sisters of the Poor.

On June 15, 2020, The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Bostock v. Clayton County that protection from employment discrimination on the basis of “sex” also extends to sexual orientation and gender identity under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed by President Trump, authored the majority opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts joined Gorsuch along with the court's four liberal justices (Ginsberg, Kagan, Breyer, Sotomayor) in the majority opinion. Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote the dissenting opinion, with Brent Kavanaugh authoring a separate dissent.

Our Lady of Guadalupe School and St. James School are both Catholic primary schools which seek to operate in a manner consistent with the Catholic faith and give the children in their care a faith-based education. In a 7-2 majority, the Supreme Court in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru upheld that the government should not interfere in the hiring and firing practices of teachers at these private religious institutions.