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Liberals have won enough big battles in Americas culture wars in recent years most notably the growing support for same-sex marriage that they may have persuaded themselves that their views were universal and their victories would continue. But as two new Supreme Court decisions relating to religion made clear, conservative forces are far from down and out. Last Monday, the high court used a unanimous unsigned opinion to announce it would take up the constitutionality of President Trumps proposed temporary ban on incoming travelers from six mostly Muslim nations. In so doing, justices overruled several federal trial and appellate courts and allowed the ban to take effect. Liberals who say its irrational for Americans to worry about domestic Islamist terrorism havent gotten far in the court of public opinion one poll showed one-third of Democrats are for Trumps travel ban and now theyve been rebuffed by the highest actual court as well. In the second decision, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the state of Missouri could not exclude a Lutheran religious school from receiving a grant from a government program that reimburses the cost of rubberizing the surface of playgrounds to make them safer. In writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that it was odious to exclude a religious organization from public benefits available to other groups. But in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor depicted the decision as a profound break with American legal tradition by holding, for the first time, that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church. In another decision, the court confirmed it would hear a case involving a Christian bakery owner who declined to make a cake for a gay couple indicating at least some sympathy for the argument that religious freedom may extend to business owners decisions on whom to serve. How will the court rule? Thats unclear. Whats clearer is what impact Trumps Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch could have. If the 15 cases in which he has ruled are any indication, the Fivethirtyeight website found that Gorsuch may settle to the right of the conservative lion he replaced, Antonin Scalia. In each of these cases, Fivethirtyeight noted, Gorsuch has sided with the courts most conservative member, Justice Clarence Thomas. Gorsuchs selection may also be driving the swirling rumors that the courts swing vote libertarianconservative Justice Anthony Kennedy may soon retire. If Kennedy is confident his replacement would be someone he finds as impressive as Gorsuch, his former clerk, that might make retiring an easier decision. If that happened, the court could swing substantially to the right. If Kennedy retires, CNN wrote, Donald Trumps legacy is set. Time will tell if last weeks opinions are as farreaching as they seem. But theres no disputing the decisions reflect a view of the world much closer to one shared by millions of Trump voters.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Culture-War Victories In Supreme Court - The Daily Record (registration)