Religious groups support conscientious dissenters in major religious-freedom case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Client(s) O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, USA; Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. and the International Society of Krishna Consciousness

In November 2012, Jones Day filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of three religious groups—Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc.; O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, USA; and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness—that seek affirmance of the District Court’s determination that a Washington State law requiring pharmacists to dispense "Plan B" prescription drugs violated the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The brief argues that courts should consider all evidence of legislative animus when determining whether an ostensibly neutral law actually imposes discriminatory burdens on disfavored religious practices.