MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on a key issue of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy: whether the First Amendment and a federal law aimed at protecting religious liberty can be used to shield an estimated $70 million held in trust for the care of its cemeteries.
Lawyers for Listecki, who serves as sole trustee of the fund, filed a writ of certiorari asking the high court to review a March ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In that decision, a three-judge panel ruled that neither the First Amendment nor the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act could be used to keep the funds out of the bankruptcy estate, where they would be used in part to fund a settlement with sex abuse victims.
The writ filed Tuesday argues that the 7th Circuit ruling is at odds with decisions in at least three other federal courts around the country.
Timothy Nixon, the attorney who represents the trust, said a Supreme Court review is needed to resolve those so-called circuit splits and to restore protections intended by the framers of the Constitution and by Congress.
“The 7th Circuit decision encroaches on religious freedom and curtails the protections in the First Amendment,” Nixon said in a statement provided to the Journal Sentinel. “Our request is that the Supreme Court agree to review this case so that the substantial protections that are being threatened can be protected.”
Marci Hamilton, the First Amendment scholar representing the creditors committee, called their arguments “slim pickings for a certiorari brief,” and she said it was unlikely the Supreme Court would take the case so soon after last year’s Hobby Lobby decision, which also turned on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
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