The Upside-Down Treatment of Religious Exceptions Cases in the Supreme Court

MICHAEL C. DORF

Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf comments on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to reject an emergency application from the State of Alabama to lift a stay on the execution of Willie B. Smith III. Professor Dorf observes the Court’s unusual alignment of votes in the decision and argues that, particularly as reflected by the recent COVID-19 decisions, the liberal and conservative Justices have essentially swapped places from the seminal 1990 case Employment Division v. Smith, which established that the First Amendment does not guarantee a right to exceptions from neutral laws of general applicability.

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Idaho v. Gorringe

Docket: 46554

Opinion Date: February 17, 2021

Judge: Stegner

Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Defendant Max Gorringe appeaeled a district court’s order amending of a no contact order. A no contact order was originally entered against Gorringe after he was initially charged with attempted strangulation in 2011. Upon acceptance of Gorringe’s guilty plea to that charge in 2012, the district court rescinded the existing no contact order and in its place included no contact provisions in the Judgment and Commitment. In 2018, Gorringe was charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly violating the no contact provisions contained in the original Judgment and Commitment. Gorringe sought clarification of the existing provisions originally entered the judgment, then moved to modify the no contact provisions. The parties stipulated to an amendment of the order in exchange for the dismissal of Gorringe’s misdemeanor charge. Although the district court expressed reservations regarding its jurisdiction to amend the no contact provisions that had been incorporated into the prior Judgment and Commitment, the district court nonetheless amended the 2012 no contact order based on the parties’ stipulation and the State’s assurance that the victim did not object to the amendment. Gorringe appealed the district court’s order amending the no contact provisions, asserting that the no contact provisions included in the 2012 Judgment and Commitment were invalid. Gorringe also claimed the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to amend the order in 2018. The Idaho Supreme Court concluded the no contact provision in the district court's 2012 Judgment was unenforceable; the court lacked jurisdiction to amend the 2012 no contact order. The district court order amending the no contact order was thus reversed, and the provisions in the 2012 sentencing order were void.