The National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA) which has heretofore rendered legal aid to Orthodox Jews in cases where their employment conflicted with Sabbath observance, announced today that it has filed briefs with the United States Supreme Court on behalf of two Christian Sabbath observers. COLPA has asked the Supreme Court to review lower court decisions in cases in California and Michigan which deal with the question of whether government agencies and private employers must accommodate to the religious needs of their employees. According to COLPA, the outcome of the cases is of great importance to the religious Jewish community. In California, the State Department of Water Resources dismissed Thomas Stimpel, a Seventh Day Adventist, because he refused to work on Saturdays. The Adventists are a Protestant sect which observes the Sabbath on Saturday. In Michigan, the Reynolds Metal Co. fired a Protestant employee, Robert Dewey, because he would not work on Sunday. In each case the lower courts ruled against the employee. COLPA’s brief to the Supreme Court claimed that the rulings presented “a grave danger to religious liberty in this country.”
COLPA’s petitions to the Supreme Court, prepared by Nathan Lewin, vice-president and Washington Chapter chairman of COLPA, said that the Stimpel case offers the “opportunity for much-needed clarification of the rights of religious minorities which are guaranteed by the First Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” He also noted that many Orthodox Jews have been victimized by employment policies similar to that which affected Stimpel. The COLPA brief to the Supreme Court stated: “We have no way of knowing, of course, how many Orthodox Jewish employes who wish to observe Saturdays as a Sabbath have been subjected to the pressure to forego their religious practices and have abandoned one of the precepts of their religion in order to accept work.” The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to review these cases in a few weeks. CULPAS intervention with the Justice Department has led the federal government to support COLPA’s position in a special brief.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
