Denver Newsroom, Dec 11, 2020 / 17:02 pm
Three Muslims who claim the FBI wrongly pressured them into becoming informants on Muslim communities may seek monetary damages as part of their lawsuit under a federal religious freedom law, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a decision that strengthens legal action on religious freedom problems.
"This unanimous decision from the Supreme Court makes it clear that government actors have to take religious freedom seriously-they can't change their tune and then avoid the consequences of their previous bad behavior," Lori Windham, senior counsel at the Becket legal group, told CNA Dec. 11.
Windham said the court ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act "gives religious claimants another way to protect their rights."
"Again and again, we have seen cases where a government official violates someone's religious freedom rights, then backs down when he or she has to go to court," she said. "That leaves the religious person without any way to protect her rights in the future."