Court announces cases it will hear in November, including religious discrimination dispute

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in November in disputes over (among other issues) a Catholic preschool’s challenge to its exclusion from a Colorado preschool program and an inmate’s ability to sue a federal prison official for violating his constitutional rights.

The calendar for the justices’ November argument session, released on Tuesday morning, indicates that the justices will hear seven hours of oral arguments over five days in November, beginning on Nov. 2 and concluding on Nov. 10.

The highlights of the November argument session include St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, in which the court will consider whether a Catholic preschool’s exclusion from Colorado’s universal preschool program is a form of religious discrimination that violates the First Amendment. The preschool argued that the state should have provided it with an exemption from rules that would have otherwise required it to admit any student who applied, including LGBTQ children and the children of LGBTQ parents. A federal appeals court rejected that argument. It concluded that, under the Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith, the state’s rules did not violate the Constitution because they are neutral and generally apply to every preschool, regardless of religious affiliation.

In Nielsen v. Watanabe, the court will consider whether a federal inmate, Kekai Watanabe, who contends that his coccyx was fractured in a fight, can sue prison officials – who, he said, failed to send him to the hospital and refused several requests for medical treatment. Watanabe’s lawsuit relies on the Supreme Court’s 1971 decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, holding that a private individual could sue a federal agent for violating his Fourth Amendment rights, even when there was not a specific law authorizing a claim for damages. Since then, however, the justices have been reluctant to allow plaintiffs to rely on Bivens, and the federal government contends that Watanabe should not be able to do so here.

The November argument schedule

Maxwell v. Dinis (Nov. 2): Whether an inmate’s claim regarding the application of time credits, seeking accelerated transfer to a halfway house or home confinement under the First Step Act, can be brought as a petition for habeas relief.

Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office (Nov. 2): Whether a defendant can raise an affirmative defense (that is, a legal excuse or justification) later in the proceedings when it did not raise that defense in the answer to the plaintiff’s complaint.

St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy (Nov. 3): (1) Whether proving a lack of general applicability under Employment Division v. Smith requires showing unfettered discretion or categorical exemptions for identical secular conduct; and (2) whether Carson v. Makin, in which the court struck down Maine’s ban on the use of public funds for private religious schools, displaces the rule of Employment Division v. Smith only when the government explicitly excludes religious people and institutions.

Guerrero v. Johnson (Nov. 4): Whether a death-row inmate’s claim that he is intellectually disabled and therefore cannot be executed falls within one of the narrow exceptions in which a state prisoner can file a second petition for federal post-conviction relief when, the state argued, he could have raised the claim in an earlier petition.

Nielsen v. Watanabe (Nov. 9): Whether the lower court properly allowed a federal prisoner’s lawsuit against prison officials to go forward under Bivens.

Hoffmann v. WBI Energy Transmission (Nov. 9): How to determine “just compensation” when a private entity uses the federal power of eminent domain to obtain rights of way to construct natural gas pipelines.

Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards, LLC (Nov. 10): Whether the Department of Labor has the power to hold hearings to collect money from employers who violate the terms of the visa program for seasonal farm workers.

Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Court announces cases it will hear in November, including religious discrimination dispute, SCOTUSblog (Aug. 11, 2026, 2:07 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/08/court-announces-cases-it-will-hear-in-november-including-religious-discrimination-dispute/