WASHINGTON – On behalf of a mother and her teenage daughter—who unknowingly was forced to face a male opponent in girls’ high-school wrestling—Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday, asking it to require Washington state officials to protect girls’ sports and uphold Title IX’s promise of safety and equal opportunities for women. The request also asks the court to protect parents’ constitutional right to be notified before the school places children in unsafe situations, such as matching females against males in competitive wrestling.

ADF Senior Counsel Greg Baylor:  “Young people who go into ministry are not in it for the money. Their calling is to serve God and to serve their neighbors—and the government shouldn’t punish students who pursue a religious vocation just because, in its judgment, they won’t earn ‘enough’ income....”

SAN FRANCISCO – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Yakima Union Gospel Mission in Washington state will be available for media interviews Tuesday following oral argument in Union Gospel Mission of Yakima v. Brown. In 2021, the Washington Supreme Court gutted a 72-year-old statute protecting religious ministries, rewriting it to force them to hire people who reject their faith. The mission is asking the court to uphold its right to decide who is religiously qualified to live out its mission.