THE FIRST AMENDMENT
From campaign finance, union dues, and legislative prayer to abortion protests and contraception coverage, the First Amendment played a central role in some of the October 2013 term’s most headline-grabbing cases. In these decisions, the Court was at its most divided, splitting 5–4 in four of five cases—and even where it was unanimous in striking down a Massachusetts law that limited protest outside of abortion clinics, the Justices split 5–4 on how the law violated the First Amendment and which standard to apply.
Religious Freedom
The First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This term, the Court addressed both religion clauses of the Amendment in two contentious and sharply divided cases. In Town of Greece v. Galloway, the Court upheld the Greece town board’s practice of beginning its monthly meetings with prayer, even though that prayer is often sectarian and directed at citizens who are present at the meetings to conduct ordinary business and to petition their local government. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., the Court held that the protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act apply to closely held for-profit corporations, exempting corporations that object on religious grounds from the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act’s requirement that certain businesses provide their employees with insurance plans that cover contraception.