On Monday, August 9, 2021, Washington Governor Jay Inslee issued a proclamation requiring certain state workers and health care workers to be vaccinated. This blog post is intended to provide an overview of what the Governor’s Proclamation says and how it affects certain state workers and certain public and private health care providers. It does […]
Lawsuits have sprung up nationwide against state and local authorities who have imposed shutdown orders in an effort to thwart the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in Washington, two lawsuits challenging our state’s shutdown order have been filed. The first, by gubernatorial candidate Joshua Freed, was voluntarily dismissed after Mr. Freed was reassured that his backyard Bible […]
When the Paycheck Protection Program rolled out the morning of April 3, many faith-based nonprofits had legitimate concerns about their eligibility for such loans or the impact of receiving federal financial assistance. We explored those issues in this post and advised faith-based nonprofits that were otherwise interested to apply but watch for the SBA’s promised […]
The Paycheck Protection Program of the CARES Act goes live today (though lenders are expressing concern about preparedness). This post is intended for religious nonprofits that have questions about the strings attached to governmental aid. What rights will they relinquish as a condition of accepting a government-guaranteed, forgivable loan? These concerns are rooted in the […]
Ellis, Li & McKinstry is proud to co-sponsor an important Town Hall event “Being a Courageous Citizen” on July 20 at 6:30 PM. The subject of the evening is Gordon Hirabayashi, who challenged the U.S. government’s race-based evacuation orders as a University of Washington student during World War II and was sentenced to jail. ELM partner […]
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently dismissed another constitutional challenge to the clergy housing allowance. The lawsuit by the Freedom From Religion Foundation argued that the clergy housing allowance violated the First Amendment. The Court of Appeals held that the FFRF did not have standing because it had not been specifically injured. The housing allowance allows […]
The Washington State Supreme Court just ruled that the religious employer exemption to the state antidiscrimination law is facially constitutional. Ellis, Li & McKinstry was involved in this case as counsel for several faith-based organizations acting as amici curiae (“friends of the court”). The brief filed by ELM was referred to several times by the […]
Can the state require a person to choose between their livelihood and their conscience? Today, a federal court upheld the civil rights of two pharmacists and a pharmacy owner who challenged new state regulations that would require them to stock and dispense “morning after” drugs, contrary to their deeply held religious beliefs. The case was handled […]
Congratulations and thanks to the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality (Seattle University School of Law) for its recent conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Hirabayashi v. United States. We are proud to have been a Silver Level Sponsor of that event. In 1942, Gordon Hirabayashi (then a student […]
