Free Republic

Many reporters attending oral arguments in the Supreme Court sit in assigned chairs on the far left side of the chamber. These chairs stand behind a double row of massive marble columns. Brass gates, some opened and some closed, stretch between the columns; burgundy curtains, pulled back by cords, hang behind them. Given their assigned seats, some reporters may not be able to see any of the justices holding forth at the front of the chamber. All they hear are their voices. Because the court only releases a transcript and audio recording of its arguments, the only Americans who definitely...

In oral arguments in the Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked an attorney representing East Texas Baptist University, Southern Nazarene University, Geneva College and the Little Sisters of the Poor whether the United States government would ever be able to function if it could not demand that people do things that those people believe will cause their souls to “be damned in some way.” “Because every believer that’s ever come before us, including the people in the military, are saying that my soul will be damned in some way,” said Sotomayor. “I’m not naysaying that that is a very...