SCOTUS Sides with Amish in Case Supported by Free Exercise Clinic

July 12, 2021

The Yale Law School Free Exercise Clinic co-authored an amici curiae brief in support of Amish plaintiffs’ challenge of a law compelling them to use modern septic systems for certain wastewater disposal in violation of their religious beliefs forgoing technology. On July 2, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs and sent the case back to a lower court.

In Mast v. County of Fillmore, the Court vacated the decision of the Minnesota Court of Appeals and instructed the lower court to reconsider that decision, with multiple separate concurrences. The Free Exercise Clinic, in partnership with Sidley Austin LLP, authored the only amicus brief in support of the petition. The Clinic represented the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty (JCRL) and the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom in supporting a remand in the case. Counsel for the plaintiffs emphasized the importance of the clinic’s brief in the outcome.

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