The Napa Legal Podcast

Napa Legal Institute
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Non-Profit
  • Weekly

Listen to Napa Legal's Senior Counsel and Director of Content Frank DeVito discuss key legal and policy updates relevant to faith-based nonprofits with Marketing and Content Manager Kyle Nazareth each week.

  1. 9h ago

    How to Ban Religious Schools (Without Mentioning Religion)

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this week’s episode, Frank DeVito and Kyle Nazareth cover three stories. First, a Vermont law that allegedly shuts every religious school out of the state’s public tuition assistance program without ever mentioning religion. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Carson v. Makin barred states from excluding religious schools from generally available programs, Vermont rewrote its rules with new requirements on location, class size, and prior public funding. All 15 religious schools that had been eligible lost eligibility, while 45 secular private schools kept it. Second, Roger Lopez, a retired grandfather and longtime pro-life sidewalk counselor, is challenging a San Diego ordinance that creates eight-foot “bubble zones” around people near every health care facility, school, and place of worship in the city, while exempting clinic staff and escorts. Third, the Iowa Supreme Court’s rejection of a Dordt University nursing student’s religious exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Chapter markers 0:00 Intro 0:21 Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast 1:00 This week’s stories 1:26 Vermont’s tuition assistance program 1:49 Carson v. Makin: religious schools can’t be excluded from generally available programs 2:41 Vermont’s new rules keep religious schools out without naming religion 3:08 The Bishop family sues 3:50 15 religious schools before the rewrite, zero after 4:22 The nondiscrimination workaround in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy and Crosspoint Church v. Makin 5:27 What makes Vermont different: a “religious gerrymander” 5:58 The three requirements: location, prior public funding, and class size 7:15 Evidence of intent beyond the numbers 8:31 A state senator’s warning about “religious schools over the border” 9:21 ADF’s First and Fourteenth Amendment claims 10:41 Kyle: Vatican II, parents as primary educators, and distributive justice 12:07 San Diego’s sidewalk ordinance, a Thomas More Society case 13:05 What is a floating bubble zone? 13:25 The exemption for clinic staff and escorts 13:57 Roger Lopez and his decades of sidewalk counseling 14:54 The trial court dismisses the case under Hill v. Colorado 15:28 Argument one: “indicated” and “offensive noise” are too vague 16:54 Argument two: the ordinance is content-based even under Hill 17:39 Alleged hostility to pro-life views in the legislative history 18:14 Argument three: Hill v. Colorado as a “zombie precedent” 19:13 The Dobbs footnote and Justice Thomas in Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale 20:49 Scalia vs. Thomas on stare decisis 22:02 Frank: when overruling precedent is worth the disruption 23:15 Frank: why the Supreme Court should explicitly overrule Hill 23:26 Buffer zones and the First Amendment on public sidewalks 24:04 Laws against harassment already exist 24:35 Is the ordinance being selectively enforced against pro-life speech? 25:57 An Iowa nursing student’s COVID-19 vaccine exemption 27:19 “My body is a temple of God” 27:47 The Iowa Supreme Court affirms: the belief wasn’t sincere 29:12 Should vaping and binge drinking undermine a religious claim? 31:36 The twist: “I personally do not have a problem with the vaccine” 33:01 Smart lawyering: why the fetal cell line objection was stronger 35:28 Kyle: what the Vatican’s 2020 vaccine note actually said 36:37 Frank: you don’t need your church’s approval for a protected religious belief 38:03 Wrap-up Lawyers: applications for the Good Counselor Project, Napa Legal’s fellowship for Christian attorneys, are open until December 1. Learn more at: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our website here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ The Napa Legal Podcast, November 3, 2026 #religiousliberty #freespeech #freedomofreligion #prolife #firstamendment

  2. 6d ago

    The Biggest Religious Liberty Term Since 2022?

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this special episode, recorded at the Good Counselor Project capstone retreat, Frank DeVito sits down with John Bursch, Vice President for Appellate Advocacy at Alliance Defending Freedom, to preview what could be the biggest religious liberty term at the Supreme Court since 2022. They cover three cases the Court has agreed to hear. In St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, Colorado excluded Catholic preschools from its universal preschool program because of their beliefs about human sexuality. In Daniel Grant’s case, an Ohio city told an Orthodox Jewish man he needed a zoning permit to host Sabbath prayer in his own home. And in International Partners for Ethical Care, the Ninth Circuit ruled that parents lacked standing to challenge a Washington law requiring youth shelters to help runaway minors obtain gender transition treatment in secret. Frank and John also highlight cases still awaiting Supreme Court action, from the Olympus Spa case to a Washington wrestler forced to compete against a male opponent, and close with Union Gospel Mission of Yakima and the threat state employment laws pose to religious organizations that hire according to their faith. Chapter markers 0:00 Intro 0:52 Guest John Bursch of Alliance Defending Freedom 1:15 Watershed years: Kennedy v. Bremerton and Carson v. Makin 1:50 Why cultural conflicts end up at the Supreme Court, and religious liberty’s winning streak 2:45 St. Mary v. Roy: Colorado’s universal preschool program 3:58 Discrimination rules as a workaround to Carson v. Makin 5:18 The Court declines to revisit Employment Division v. Smith 6:59 The broad theory: applying the Carson line of cases 8:14 The narrow theory: secular exceptions under Tandon and Fulton 9:51 What exclusion means for Catholic families 10:39 Daniel Grant’s case: a permit to pray in your own home 13:03 The Williamson County ripeness doctrine in the Sixth Circuit 14:27 How local zoning laws burden people of faith 14:56 ADF and Orrick partner on the case 16:38 The Cleveland Browns comparison and man-on-the-street interviews 17:57 Lisa Blatt versus Josh Rosenkranz at oral argument 18:29 International Partners for Ethical Care: Washington’s shelter secrecy law 19:35 Mirabelli and the Ninth Circuit’s standing holding 22:01 Pending petitions: the Olympus Spa case 24:37 Obergefell and how language distorts the discrimination debate 26:33 Polk: a Virginia teacher, pronouns, and parental notice 28:13 Challenging Locke v. Davey 29:43 Perry: a vaccine exemption for a virtual school student 31:25 The Fourth Circuit’s first-of-its-kind holding on Tandon comparators 32:38 A Washington wrestler’s emergency application 35:06 Why combat sports make the stakes clearest 35:44 Minnesota softball and Connecticut track 37:11 Why the fight over women’s sports isn’t over in blue states 37:44 Union Gospel Mission of Yakima at the en banc Ninth Circuit 39:13 The ministerial exception versus the co-religionist doctrine 39:59 A messy en banc argument 40:55 Employment laws without religious exemptions: Washington, Michigan, and the Fourth Circuit 42:37 Why this matters for organizations like Napa Legal 44:04 Michigan’s law protecting abortion history in hiring 45:07 Wrap-up Lawyers: applications for the Good Counselor Project, Napa Legal’s fellowship for Christian attorneys, are open until December 1. Learn more at https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our website here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ The Napa Legal Podcast, October 27, 2026

  3. Oct 21

    Police Remove Evangelist from Holiday Festival

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this week’s episode, Frank DeVito and Kyle Nazareth cover three stories. First, a surprising amicus brief from professors affiliated with the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Clinic. The brief supports the ACLU-led petition asking the Supreme Court to reverse the en banc Fifth Circuit’s decision in Nathan v. Alamo Heights, which upheld Texas’s law requiring the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. Second, a Christian man who was escorted out of the Winter Haven Festival of Lights in Tucson, Arizona, and threatened with arrest for quietly asking attendees if they wanted to talk about Jesus. Police told him this counted as prohibited “sermonizing,” and he is now suing the city with First Liberty Institute. Third, a federal bankruptcy court’s rejection of the Diocese of Oakland’s reorganization plan, and the diocese’s novel argument that pressuring it to sell more churches to pay creditors raises a church autonomy problem. Chapter markers 0:00 Intro1:24 The Texas Ten Commandments case, Nathan v. Alamo Heights1:52 Judge Duncan’s en banc opinion and the hallmarks of a religious establishment3:28 The case awaits a decision on Supreme Court review3:38 A Notre Dame Religious Liberty Clinic brief backing the ACLU’s petition4:19 A real split within the religious freedom movement5:05 The brief’s claim: Texas forces religious instruction on a captive audience7:04 Frank: the founders feared denominational dominance, not the Bible8:29 Early American public schools, the King James Bible, and the Our Father9:08 No coercion and no instruction: it’s a poster on the wall10:13 Andrea Picciotti-Bayer: students don’t even have to look at it10:52 Why Frank now hopes the Supreme Court takes the case11:07 Kyle: the offended observer problem in new language12:15 Stone v. Graham, the Lemon test, and psychology as a test for coercion12:44 A Tucson holiday festival bans religious messaging13:10 The festival sign and the barricaded “free expression zone”13:38 Police: asking about Jesus is “sermonizing”14:12 Hoffman sues, represented by First Liberty Institute and Gibson Dunn14:42 Is a private festival on a city permit state action?15:21 Is evangelizing protected speech? Kennedy v. Bremerton and Murdock v. Pennsylvania16:19 Traditional public forum doctrine: intermediate scrutiny versus strict scrutiny17:09 Why the festival’s rule is content-based18:01 Crowd safety, pedestrian flow, and the heckler’s veto under Cohen v. California19:22 Party bikes allowed, quiet conversations banned: why the rule isn’t narrowly tailored20:24 Less restrictive alternatives the city could have used21:08 Kyle: a winter holiday festival that banned Christ, and Paul in the marketplace in Acts 1722:11 The myth of neutrality: treating the gospel like a sales pitch23:21 Frank: lumping the most protected speech with the least protected speech24:09 Private permits on public streets25:22 An open invitation to lawyers who work on public forum issues26:23 The Diocese of Oakland’s bankruptcy27:52 Why the court rejected the reorganization plan29:27 The diocese’s church autonomy argument30:44 The court’s response31:19 Frank: the court answered a free exercise question, not a church autonomy one32:26 What if a court’s demands would leave Catholics without a parish?33:38 Wrap-up Lawyers: applications for the Good Counselor Project, Napa Legal’s fellowship for Christian attorneys, are open until December 1. Learn more at https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our website here:https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here:https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ The Napa Legal Podcast, October 20, 2026 #religiousliberty #freespeech #freedomofreligion

  4. Oct 12

    Did Virginia State University Target Christian Students?

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this week’s episode, Frank DeVito is joined by Alexa Kowalewski, a recent graduate of Notre Dame Law School. They cover three stories. First, a North Carolina town that is using its zoning code to evict a small church from a rented event space where theaters, wedding venues, and bars are all permitted. Second, a lawsuit by two Christian student groups at Virginia State University, which stripped Christian organizations of their independent status, placed them under a single campus minister, and exempted Muslim and other non-Christian groups. Third, an update on California’s lawsuit against Heartbeat International, in which the state is seeking more than $20 million in penalties and a gag order that would bar pro-life pregnancy centers from even telling women about abortion pill reversal. Chapter markers 0:00 Intro 1:50 A North Carolina town tells a church to stop meeting 3:25 First Liberty responds to the demand letter 4:51 RLUIPA land use fights and the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist case 5:48 Why the ordinance isn’t neutral or generally applicable under Employment Division v. Smith 7:41 RLUIPA’s equal terms problem: only 2 of 14 zoning districts allow churches 8:35 Why local zoning fights must be fought early 9:55 Alexa: describe the same facts without the word “church” 12:41 Virginia State University’s new campus ministry policy 13:38 Christian groups lose their registered student organization status 15:34 The exemption for Muslim and non-Christian groups 17:01 The campus minister’s explanation and the end of Sunday church shuttles 18:08 Frank: campus ministries versus more orthodox outside groups 20:05 Establishment Clause or Free Exercise? Lemon, Kennedy, and the better claim 21:30 Heartbeat International and the Abortion Pill Rescue Network 23:22 New Beginnings: abortion pill reversal in rural Arkansas 25:46 California seeks $20 million and a gag order 27:07 How abortion pill reversal works 28:32 Why consumer protection law doesn’t fit nonprofits 29:28 Progesterone versus mifepristone safety 31:20 The chilling effect on pregnancy centers and the Thomas More Society’s defense 32:53 Alexa: the pro-choice movement’s limits on choice 34:42 Wrap-up Lawyers: applications for the Good Counselor Project, Napa Legal’s fellowship for Christian attorneys, are open until December 1. Learn more at https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our website here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/th... The Napa Legal Podcast, October 13, 2026 #religiousliberty #prolife #freedomofreligion

  5. Oct 5

    School Threatens Kids Over Teacher's Pronouns

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this week's episode, Frank DeVito and Kyle Nazareth discuss a North Carolina elementary school that refused to let Christian parents opt their children out of a music class taught by a male teacher who identifies as a woman; the Ninth Circuit's full-court rehearing of Union Gospel Mission of Yakima v. Brown, a case asking whether Christian ministries can require all employees, not just ministers, to share their faith; and the Supreme Court's decision to hear Missionaries of St. John the Baptist v. Frederick, a Kentucky case over a zoning board blocking a Marian grotto on church property, in which Napa Legal filed an amicus brief urging the Court to take the case. Lawyers: applications for the Good Counselor Project, Napa Legal's fellowship for Christian attorneys, are open until December 1. Learn more at https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our website here:https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here:https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/the-napa-legal-podcast The Napa Legal Podcast, October 6, 2026 #religiousliberty #parentalrights #freedomofreligion

  6. Sep 29

    Is Dearborn Favoring Islam? The Lawsuit Explained

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this week's episode, Frank DeVito and Kyle Nazareth discuss Senator Josh Hawley's new Declaration for Life and his bill to ban the abortion pill mifepristone; a lawsuit by Catholic journalist Margot Cleveland accusing the city of Dearborn, Michigan, of favoring Islam over Christianity and Judaism; and oral arguments before the Indiana Supreme Court in Hoosier Jews for Choice, a case claiming that abortion is a protected religious exercise. In this episode, we discuss: [1:26] Senator Hawley's Declaration for Life, unveiled at the inaugural Missouri Prayer Breakfast, and his Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, which would ban the sale and shipment of mifepristone. Frank explains why the bill focuses on harm to women rather than harm to the unborn child. [10:45] Cleveland v. City of Dearborn, in which a Dearborn resident alleges the city spent public funds on Ramadan banners and displays while ignoring her requests for comparable recognition of Christmas, Easter, and the Jewish High Holy Days. Kyle walks through the complaint's free speech retaliation and Establishment Clause claims. [24:06] Hoosier Jews for Choice v. Indiana, in which Jewish, Muslim, and other plaintiffs argue that Indiana's abortion law violates their rights under the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Frank explains why the Indiana Supreme Court may decide the case on standing, and why neither the original meaning of "religion" nor strict scrutiny supports a religious right to end an unborn life. For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our website here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/the-napa-legal-podcast The Napa Legal Podcast, September 29, 2026 #religiousliberty #freedomofreligion #prolife

  7. Sep 21

    State vs. Family: MA Takes a Daughter Over Gender Ideology

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discussreligious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits.   In this week's episode, Frank DeVito and Kyle Nazarethdiscuss Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington's letter, read at every Mass inhis diocese, urging Catholics to vote no on Virginia's proposed abortion andmarriage amendments; a federal injunction protecting Cardinal Blase Cupich, theArchdiocese of Chicago, and two orders of Catholic sisters from Illinois'sassisted suicide referral mandate; and a Massachusetts case in which Catholicparents allege the state took custody of their 15-year-old daughter after theyrefused, on religious grounds, to affirm her as a boy.   In this episode, we discuss:   [1:00] Bishop Burbidge's letter urging Catholics to vote noon two Virginia ballot amendments this November, one expanding abortion accessand one redefining marriage. Frank uses the letter as a chance to walk throughwhat Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.   [13:06] Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm v.Pritzker, in which a federal judge temporarily barred Illinois from enforcingits End of Life Options Act against the Archdiocese of Chicago and the sisters.Kyle walks through the Becket Fund's church autonomy argument and the Catholicmoral theology at the heart of the complaint.   [30:18] The Massachusetts family who say the Department ofChildren and Families removed their daughter from their home two years agoafter a school counselor reported them for objecting to her social transition.Drawing on his experience as a solicitor for a children and youth agency, Frankexplains how Mirabelli v. Bonta, the Supreme Court's decision on secret schoolgender transitions, bears on the case.   For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our websitehere: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/   For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here:https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/the-napa-legal-podcast   The Napa Legal Podcast, September 22, 2026   #freedomofreligion #religiousliberty #parentalrights

  8. Sep 15

    Prayer by Permission: Zoning, Schools, and the Shrinking Religious Sphere

    Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we discuss religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. In this week's episode, Frank DeVito and Kyle Nazareth discuss a Washington State father who sued his son's school district after his fourth grader sat through a Pride Month lesson on gender reassignment surgery with no notice and no chance to opt out; the Becket Fund's amicus brief in Grand v. City of University Heights, the Supreme Court case of an Orthodox Jewish man told he could not gather ten men to pray in his own living room without a zoning permit; and the New Jersey Catholic Conference's guidance to Catholics following the state's sweeping new abortion law. In this episode, we discuss: [1:05] A new lawsuit against the Lake Washington School District in Washington State. Frank explains why this case is one of the first real tests of Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court decision holding that parents are constitutionally entitled to notice and an opt-out when a curricular feature substantially interferes with the religious development of a child, and why the fight over whether a lesson is merely descriptive or actually normative is the wrong place for courts to draw the line. [12:40] The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty's amicus brief in Grand v. City of University Heights, which the Supreme Court will hear this December. Kyle walks through Becket's argument that importing the finality rule from Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, a Fifth Amendment takings case, into religious land use litigation hands local governments a playbook for postponing federal review indefinitely, and Becket's comparison of religious claimants trapped in zoning proceedings to the souls in Dante's Purgatory, only without the assurance of a happy ending. [32:28] New Jersey's newly signed law expanding abortion access, which criminalizes interference with abortion and shields providers from losing their medical licenses or their malpractice insurance for performing what the statute calls reproductive health care. Frank and Kyle look at the New Jersey Catholic Conference's guidance on how Catholics should continue praying and offering literature outside abortion facilities. For more about Napa Legal and our work, visit our website here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/ For more of the Napa Legal Podcast, visit our site here: https://www.napalegalinstitute.org/the-napa-legal-podcast The Napa Legal Podcast, September 15, 2026 #freedomofreligion #religiousliberty #freeexercise

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About

Listen to Napa Legal's Senior Counsel and Director of Content Frank DeVito discuss key legal and policy updates relevant to faith-based nonprofits with Marketing and Content Manager Kyle Nazareth each week.

Information

  • Creator
    Napa Legal Institute
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    119
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Napa Legal Institute
  • Show Website
    The Napa Legal Podcast

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