This April 10, 2002 photo shows Amish buggies of the Swartzentrubers Amish sect parked outside the Ebensburg, Pa., courthouse. A state appeals court says members of a deeply conservative Amish community in Minnesota don’t need to install septic systems to dispose of their “gray water.” The ruling came Monday, July 10, 2023 from the state Court of Appeals in a long-running religious freedom case that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Pete Vizza/The Tribune-Democrat via AP, file)
By Steve Karnowski
Members of a deeply conservative Amish community in Minnesota don't need to install septic systems to dispose of their “gray water,” the state Court of Appeals ruled Monday in a long-running religious freedom case that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel ruled that the government “failed to demonstrate a compelling state interest” to justify overriding the religious freedom of the Amish families that challenged state regulations governing the disposal of gray water, which is water that's been used for dishwashing, laundry, and bathing, but not toilet waste.
The Swartzentruber Amish in southeastern Minnesota are among the most traditional Amish groups in the country, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch noted in a 2021 ruling. It sent the case back to Minnesota courts for reconsideration in light of a high court decision a month earlier in a different religious freedom case. That ruling went in favor of a Philadelphia-based Catholic foster care agency that said its religious views prevented it from working with same-sex couples.
A Minnesota district court last September concluded that the government showed that it had a compelling state interest "of the highest order" in requiring the Swartzentruber Amish to use septic tanks to protect groundwater supplies in the area. The families then appealed again. The Court of Appeals sided with them Monday, and sent the case back to the lower court for an order in favor of the Amish.
Fillmore County in 2013 started requiring homes to have modern septic systems to dispose of gray water. The Swartzentruber Amish sought an exemption, saying their religion prohibits that technology. They sued in 2017. For years they had discharged their gray water directly onto the ground. They offered instead to use mulch basins filled with wood chips to filter the water, as allowed in some other states, but the government argued that mulch basins would be ineffective.
The federal religious freedom law that was at issue in the Philadelphia case “prohibits governments from infringing sincerely held religious beliefs and practices except as a last resort,” Gorsuch explained at the time, urging the Minnesota court and local authorities to swiftly resolve the dispute.
“In this country, neither the Amish nor anyone else should have to choose between their farms and their faith,” Gorsuch said.
The Court of Appeals noted that the Swartzentruber Amish use some technology, but don't own or drive automobiles, and don't use telephones, electric lights or modern flush toilets. They supply water to their homes from cisterns and have always prohibited septic systems.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
Politico's Marcia Brown breaks down the MAHA draft roadmap: industry-friendly, light on regulation, heavy on research and voluntary food policy changes.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan says he’s “always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards” after coming under pressure following President Donald Trump’s call for him to resign.
Millions of Americans saving for retirement through 401(k) accounts could have the option of putting their money in higher-risk private equity and cryptocurrency investments.
