2026 Reflections
For the inauguration of this project, CAPPA is focusing on recent US Supreme Court cases that have protected religious freedom for those whose care for patients is formed by the religious view of Human Dignity.
They will be presented in chronological order from 2014 to 2026
Many of these cases were decided in this week of June over the years.
Prayers
The Diocese of Worcester, MA put together a Novena for the United States of America. Each day focuses on a different right for which we are thankful and pray is better secured and lived by all. I have taken the prayers from this booklet, all of which are from the Roman Missal.
Below are the cases that will be the focus for that day. Return each day to find the new refection.
June 22 – Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (June 16, 2014)
Article III of the US Constitution allows citizens to challenge the constitutionality of a law before it is enforced against them.
Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List, a prominent and effective pro-life organization, announced a billboard to be put up in the district of then-Congressman Steven Driehaus asserting that his vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act amounted to a vote in favor of taxpayer-funded abortion. Driehaus threatened the billboard company with legal action, so they refused to put up the ad. He also threatened SBA List that it violated Ohio’s campaign laws by making false statements about his voting record.
Driehaus lost his re-election bid, dropped the lawsuit, and left the country. The district court dropped the lawsuit for “lack of standing” and “ripeness”, meaning it SBA List would not be protected under Article III. SBA’s speech had been successfully suppressed, so they claimed that they could again be sued for violating the Ohio campaign law because their speech centered on criticizing the ACA, not Driehaus specifically.
SBA won this case in a 9-0 SCOTUS decision. The opinion was written by Justice Clarence Thomas. “When an individual is subject to such a threat, an actual arrest, prosecution, or other enforcement action is not a prerequisite to challenging the law….As long as petitioners continue to engage in comparable electoral speech regarding support for the ACA, that speech will remain arguably proscribed by Ohio’s false statement statute.” It was an easy way to chill political speech.
SBA List v. Driehaus remains a highly cited precedent in American constitutional law ensuring citizens can proactively challenge restrictive state laws in federal court before they are forced to choose between self-censorship (chilled speech) and criminal liability. This sets a precedent for future cases this week, including Chiles v. Salazar which specifically involves clinical speech.
Does the threat of repercussions in the workplace chill us from speaking our mind regarding our view of human dignity when caring for our patients? CAPPA prays that all of us working the health care have the courage and support needed to speak up for human dignity.
Prayer
O God, who gave one origin to all peoples and willed to gather from them one family for yourself, fill all hearts, we pray, with the fire of your love and kindle in them a desire for the just advancement of their neighbor that, through the good things which you richly bestow upon all, each person may be brought to perfection, every division may be removed, and justice may be established in society. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen
June 23 – McCullen v. Coakley (June 26, 2014)
June 24 – NIFLA v. Becerra (June 26, 2018)
June 25 – Dobbs v. Jackson (June 24, 2022)
June 26 – Groff v. DeJoy (June 29, 2023)
June 27 – Murthy v. Missouri (June 26, 2024)
June 28 – Chiles v. Salazar (March 31, 2026)
June 29 – First Choice Woman’s Resource Center v. Davenport (April 29, 2026)
June 22nd is the feast of the martyrs Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More, both beheaded by King Henry VIII in 1535 for refusing to sign the Act of Succession.
Saint John Fisher (1469 – 1535) studied at the University of Cambridge, starting when he was around twelve years old. He earned a Master of Arts and was a distinguished scholar in 1491, when he received a papal dispensation to be ordained a priest despite his age. He eventually earned a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree and days later became vice chancellor. He lived a very austere life despite his prominence.
In 1504, he was elevated to Bishop of Rochester, the poorest diocese in England from which bishops usually moved on to more prominent positions. Despite his closeness to the family of King Henry VII, Fisher remained its bishop until his death. He became chancellor of Cambridge that same year. He wrote extensively to defend the Faith against the attacks of Martin Luther, and denounced Church abuses while urging its reform.
While Fisher had several disagreements with Henry VIII, Fisher’s objection to his attempt to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, and refusing to recognize him as the Supreme Head of the Church of England that lead to Fisher’s martyrdom despite being made a Cardinal in hopes of reducing the harshness of the king’s treatment of him.
Saint Thomas More (1478 – 1535) began a classical education at Oxford University in 1492 and eventually studied law, being called to the bar in 1502. He also was a writer, poet, and translator. His spiritual live had been greatly influenced by the nearby Carthusians, and had considered abandoning law to become a monk. He ultimately remained a layman, was elected to Parliament in 1504, and married Joanna Colt in 1505. They had four children before Joanna died. He remarried Alice Middleton. He was a very affectionate father to all the children. Like Fisher, he engaged in ascetic practices.
More eventually became the Lord Chancellor of England n which he acted as judge, statesman, and legislator. He extensively defended the Faith in his writings against Tynedale’s vernacular biblical translation for is many neologisms and heretical marginal explanatory notes. As Chancellor, his role required that he prosecuted heretics, the extent and nature of which remains controversial.
Like Fisher, he refused to support Henry VII’s marriage annulment nor to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England. He did not publicly denounce those actions, though; instead he resigned as chancellor.
Henry VIII tried to compel both Fisher and More to sign the Act of Succession, declaring the children of Henry and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, the the legitimate heirs rather than Mary, the only child with Catherine to survive to adulthood, and declared Henry Supreme Head of the Church of England. Both Fisher and More both not sign mostly due to the latter assertion and the repudiation of the pope’s authority. This was not a crime, but speaking out against this title was, so both Fisher and More remained silent on that account, but were betrayed by the scheming ambition of Richard Rich.
Rich first misled Fisher by saying that the King wanted to know Fisher’s opinion for his conscience sake. Fisher told Rich his opinion who then testified that Fisher committed treason. Fisher, now accused of treason, had his episcopal title stripped so was tried as a commoner by jury with Rich as the only witness. He had been sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. However, due to growing public outcry and that Fisher may not be executed prior to June 24th, the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist – a saint also beheaded for denouncing the king’s unlawful marriage – Henry commuted the sentence to beheading carried out on June 23rd.
Rich tried a similar tactic with More but he suspected the ruse and revealed nothing. Nonetheless, Rich falsely testified that More had denounced the title as well. More was tried on July 1 with a jury containing several members of the Boleyn family. Despite two other witnesses stating they did not hear More do so, the jury found him guilty. He was beheaded on July 6th, declaring he died “the king’s good servant, and God’s first.”
Religious Freedom Week ends June 29th – the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, apostles and martyrs.