RLC Cases
Since the clinic’s launch in January 2013, its projects have included:
- Drafting a religious-liberty handbook for a national civil-rights organization to provide to Native American prisoners across the country.
- Drafting a practice guide for a national civil-rights organization to support the litigation of asylum claims based on religious persecution.
- Counseling an interfaith coalition on the religious-liberty rights of their member organizations in serving the poor and migrants in California.
- Counseling and advocacy for a national civil-rights organization in support of religious practice and accommodation in the federal women’s prison system, including drafting a religious-liberty handbook.
- Advocacy for a national Jewish organization in support of prisoners restricted from participating in communal prayer services in facilities across the country.
- Advocacy for a Sikh law student seeking religious accommodation for her religious head covering when taking the California bar exam.
- Advocacy for a national Muslim organization in support of inmates across the country seeking to observe Ramadan during their incarceration.
- Advocacy for a Christian church in support of its right to participate in a California city’s beautification program.
- Advocacy for a Hare Krishna practitioner in support of his right to share literature at a public California university.
- Negotiation for a Jewish family seeking religious-instruction alternatives for their child under a California public-school “release time” program.
- Negotiation for a Jewish rabbi seeking to visit a member of his congregation confined to a California prison.
- Negotiation for Sabbath observers who were refused accommodation in their public schooling and employment in California.
- Negotiation for prominent Jewish groups and individuals seeking various religious accommodations in California prisons.
- Negotiation for a Christian inmate prevented from attending his religious service due to a conflict with his rehabilitation program.
- Legislative advocacy for Buddhist and Native American inmates regarding a proposed limitation on religious items in California prisons.
- Legislative advocacy for a terminally ill Orthodox religious leader seeking to be buried at the California monastery he founded decades earlier.
- Legislative advocacy for Jewish inmates regarding kosher meal accommodations in Michigan prisons.
- Agency work in California for a Sikh temple organization facing land-use challenges.
- Agency work in California for a Christian monastery regarding compliance with local zoning ordinances.
- Agency work in California for Sikh employees whose private-sector employer refused their requests to maintain unshorn hair in accordance with their faith.
- Agency work in California for a disabled Christian seeking to marry without forfeiting her right to public benefits on which she relies.
- Agency work in California for a Hare Krishna practitioner who was cited by police for sharing literature along a city sidewalk.
- Agency and trial-level work in California for a Hare Krishna organization challenging certain taxation of its temple property.
- Agency and federal trial-level work in Florida for an inmate who returned to his parents’ Jewish faith in prison but whose request to be circumcised was denied.
- Agency and federal trial-level work in California for a Muslim inmate facing restrictions on his right to wear a kufi.
- Agency and trial-level work in California for a Muslim employee whose public-sector employer refused his accommodation request for a retirement-savings option in line with his religious beliefs.
- Agency and trial-level work in California state court for a mosque association facing land-use challenges.
- Agency and trial-level work (with the DOJ) in California federal court for Sikh correctional officers seeking to maintain beards in accordance with their faith.
- Agency and trial-level work in California for a Jehovah’s Witness who was denied a public-sector job after refusing to take a government loyalty oath.
- Trial-level work (with the DOJ) in Pennsylvania federal court for a Muslim security guard seeking to maintain a beard in accordance with his faith.
- Trial-level work in California federal court for Seventh-day Adventist employees whose private-sector employer took adverse action against them based on their need to observe the Sabbath on Saturday.
- Trial-level work in California federal court for a Messianic Jewish inmate who was refused daily kosher meals in prison.
- Trial-level work in California federal court for a Seventh-day Adventist employee whose private-sector employer refused Sabbath accommodation.
- Trial-level work in California for a Rastafarian inmate seeking to challenge a policy disfavoring the purchase of religious items.
- Trial-level work in California for a Messianic Jewish inmate whose prison denied his request for a faith-based name change.
- Trial-level work in California federal court for a Native American inmate facing restrictions on his ability to pray as regularly as his faith requires.
- Trial-level work in Alabama federal court for a Muslim inmate challenging the state prison system’s policy of requiring the attendance of its chaplain and disallowing a religious advisor of the inmate’s own faith in the execution chamber.
- Trial-level work in Texas federal court for a Christian nurse who was denied employment based on her religious request to wear a long skirt instead of pants.
- Trial-level work in Washington federal court for a Muslim worker who was denied a job based on his need for time off to observe Friday prayers.
- Trial-level work in Arizona federal court for a Christian church’s food pantry facing zoning challenges to continuing its ministry to the hungry in its community.
- Trial-level work in California federal court for a Christian public-school teacher who was terminated after a classroom discussion that touched on religion and supervisor conversations that followed.
- Agency, federal trial-level, and federal appellate-level work in California—including before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—for a non-denominational church facing zoning challenges to continuing its ministry to the homeless.
- Trial-level and appellate-level work in Illinois state court for a client seeking a driver’s license without a photograph for religious reasons.
- Trial-level and appellate-level work in California federal court—including before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—for a Seventh-day Adventist whose employer denied her a full-time position based on her need to observe the Sabbath.
- Trial-level and appellate-level work in California state court for a Seventh-day Adventist who was denied public-sector employment for refusing to work on the Sabbath.
- Trial-level and appellate-level work in California federal court—including before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—for a Jehovah’s Witness who was denied a public-sector job based on her need for religious accommodation in taking a government loyalty oath.
- Trial-level and appellate-level work—including before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit—for a Messianic Jewish employee who was discharged after his employer denied him time off for his religious holidays.
- Trial-level and appellate amicus advocacy in California state court in support of Sikh police officers seeking to maintain beards in accordance with their faith.
- Appellate-level work in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a Messianic Christian inmate who was denied a religious accommodation at his prison job.
- Appellate-level work in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a Wiccan inmate who was denied access to natural anointing oils central to his faith.
- Appellate-level work in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a Native American faith practitioner who was denied access to group worship in prison.
- Appellate-level work in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a Christian Jew who was terminated from her remote job based on her need for religious accommodation to a vaccine mandate.
- Appellate-level work in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a Jewish musician whose performance was canceled following objections to his religious beliefs.
- Appellate-level work in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court for Falun Gong adherents who were harassed at their places of worship.
- A petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court for a Jehovah’s Witness who was denied a religious accommodation to attend his worship services.
- An amicus brief in the New Jersey Appellate Division for Quaker organizations in support of a Jewish synagogue facing zoning challenges.
- An amicus brief in the California Court of Appeal for Baptist organizations in support of a local church’s right to determine its members.
- An amicus brief in the California Court of Appeal for Seventh-day Adventist organizations in support of a Jewish school’s right to hire and serve non-adherents as a religious matter.
- An amicus brief in the California Court of Appeal for a prominent academic in support of a local church’s right to manage its internal financial affairs.
- An amicus brief in Pennsylvania state court for a prominent academic in support of a Muslim prisoner’s challenge to the state’s examination of his prayer practices at trial.
- An amicus letter in the California Supreme Court for a national civil-rights organization in support of a petition for review arising from the state’s refusal to honor the right of a Jewish school to hire and serve non-adherents as a religious matter.
- An amicus letter and follow-on brief in the California Supreme Court for a Buddhist organization in support of the right of religious organizations to make employment decisions in ministry appointments.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for a national civil-rights organization in support of “church plan” protection in federal pension law.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for a Christian advocacy group in support of a Texas inmate’s challenge to a ban on his Native American religious practices.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit for Jewish advocacy groups in support of a Christian family camp project facing obstacles to construction.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a national civil-rights organization in support of “church plan” protection in federal pension law.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for a national civil-rights organization in support of a Buddhist house of worship in Hawaii facing land-use challenges.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for an interfaith coalition in support of Jewish prisoners seeking access to kosher meals.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court for a national women’s prisoner advocacy organization in support of a Muslim prisoner’s right to maintain a beard in accordance with his faith.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court for a national Muslim organization in support of a petition for certiorari arising from a Montana ruling forcing a small religious community to participate in the state’s workers’ compensation program.
- Amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court for a national Sikh organization in support of a petition for certiorari arising from a prison policy forcing Native American inmates to cut their hair in violation of their faith.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court for a national Catholic educational organization in support of the right of religious schools to choose their ministers.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a national Sikh organization in support of awarding money damages to plaintiffs who suffer discrimination in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court for a national Muslim organization in support of a petition for certiorari arising from the denial of money damages for inmates who suffer discrimination in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
- An amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court for a coalition of Christian organizations in support of a petition for certiorari arising from the federal government’s threatened destruction of a Native American sacred site.