17 States Ask Supreme Court to Protect Postal Worker’s Right to Honor Sabbath
The attorneys general of 17 states are asking the Supreme Court to take up the civil rights lawsuit of an evangelical Christian postal worker in Pennsylvania who quit the U.S. Postal Service after it refused to accommodate his wish not to work on the Sunday Sabbath.
The legal filing comes as the Supreme Court is poised to begin its new session on Oct. 3, its first with Biden appointee Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on the bench. It also comes as the high court has become increasingly protective of First Amendment-based religious protections in recent years.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit turned down Gerald Groff’s appeal earlier this year. The petition (pdf) in the case, Groff v. DeJoy, court file 22-174, was filed with the Supreme Court on Aug. 23. Louis DeJoy, the U.S. Postmaster General, is represented by the U.S. Department of Justice. Groff is represented by First Liberty Institute of Plano, Texas….