Richard Garnett
Notre Dame Law School
Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law
Concurrent Professor of Political Science
- Death penalty
- Free speech
- School choice
- Catholic social thought
- Church/state relations
- Religion in the public square
- Free exercise of religion
- Federalism and criminal law
- Supreme court
- Criminal defense
- Religious liberty
- Education reform
Garnett’s Latest News
Garnett in the News
NBC News
Trump built the Supreme Court's conservative majority, but it doesn't always rule in his favor
January 04, 2024
The justices themselves "understand well, even if Mr. Trump does not, that their role is to interpret the law, not to protect any particular public figure's personal interests," said Richard Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School.
The Tablet
Fourteen States, Others Back N.Y. Pro-Life Sidewalk Minister’s Court Case
August 30, 2023
In friend-of-the court briefs filed in support of Vitagliano, legal experts including Richard Garnett, a Notre Dame professor of law and director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State and Society, stressed the widespread disagreement on the Hill decision.
Inside Indiana Business
Room for individual, narrower legal action on abortion ban, legal experts say
July 11, 2023
Rick Garnett, a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school, said he expects litigation to continue.
CNN
The Supreme Court’s continuing march to the right
July 10, 2023
“I think the justices, in a sense – they were ships passing in the night,” said Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame who signed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the aspiring wedding web designer who prevailed in the case. “They disagreed about what the case was about.”
Quartz
An Oklahoma school has become the first to dismantle the wall between church and state
June 06, 2023
But the First Amendment also guarantees the “free exercise” of religion and so prohibits anti-religious discrimination by governments, argue Nicole Stelle Garnett and Richard Garnett of Notre Dame Law School, who helped the the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa with their charter school application.
Reason Magazine
The Post-Liberal Authoritarians Want You To Forget That Private Companies Have Rights
May 19, 2023
"The American constitutional system "protects private actors," says Notre Dame law professor Richard W. Garnett, while constraining how government officials can exercise their power.
The Kansas City Star
Hawley says the FBI is anti-Catholic. How a divide in the Church became a flashpoint in Congress
May 01, 2023
“People are called traditionalists because of their aesthetic tastes,” said Richard Garnett, the director of the Program on Church, State and Society at Notre Dame University. “And that’s given some political baggage like they’re hostile to the pope or they don’t believe in the Second Vatican Council and that’s a mistake.”
Bloomberg
Religious Rights Case of Christian Postal Worker
Audio
April 20, 2023
Professor Richard Garnett of Notre Dame Law School, discusses Supreme Court oral arguments in the case of a postal worker who refused to work on Sundays and his request for a religious accomodation.
Supreme Court and DOJ find 'points of agreement' in religious freedom case
April 20, 2023
Rick Garnett, a law professor from the University of Notre Dame, told the Washington Examiner the court's three Democratic appointees might prefer Congress to address any outstanding questions in Hardison.
Our Sunday Visitor
FBI faces scrutiny about memo on 'radical traditionalist Catholics'
February 15, 2023
Rick Garnett, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, told OSV News that although the FBI retracted the memo, "that it was ever composed is troubling."
First Things
The Future for Religious Charter Schools
February 14, 2023
Nicole Stelle Garnett is the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School. Richard W. Garnett is professor of law and concurrent professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.
The Tablet
Supreme Court to Hear Case of Postal Worker Forced to Work on Sundays
January 25, 2023
Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State, and Society, told The Tablet that the court’s decision to hear this case is welcome news because it “provides the court with an opportunity to revisit, and correct, a 1977 ruling that most observers, across the political spectrum, agree was wrongly decided.”
Deseret News
What will the Supreme Court say about free speech and gay rights?
December 13, 2022
“As I see it (or, as I heard it), many of the justices were asking the advocates to help them identify lines and limits. It is unlikely that any of the justices believes that public-accommodations laws never implicate First Amendment rights and also unlikely that any of them believes that they always do. What, then, is the principle, factor, or consideration that judges and regulators can use to distinguish between impermissible and permissible uses of such laws?” wrote Rick Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, to me in an email.
Today Show
Restaurant refuses service to conservative Christian group, citing staff’s ‘dignity, comfort and safety’
December 08, 2022
“One reason why I think the restaurant story is getting a lot of attention is because it happened on basically the same day as the arguments in the Supreme Court about the web designer,” Richard W. Garnett, a Notre Dame Law School professor and director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State & Society, tells TODAY.com.
Law360
Justices Hear Harvard Admissions Case Amid 1st Circ. Slump
October 27, 2022
Rick Garnett, a professor at University of Notre Dame, the Law School who clerked at the Supreme Court for then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, called the lack of a GOP nominee on the First Circuit "a pretty striking data point that the First Circuit is dramatically out of sync, not only with the Supreme Court, but with the other circuit courts at the moment."
Bloomberg
Behind the Trump Classified Documents Controversy
Audio
September 24, 2022
First Amendment law expert Richard Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, discusses Yeshiva University temporarily suspending all undergraduate club activities after the US Supreme Court refused to step into a legal fight over recognition of a campus LGBTQ student group.
The Washington Post
The incredible shrinking wall between church and state
July 17, 2022
“Jefferson was an outlier among the founding generation, in terms of his views of traditional religious belief and his understanding of what church-state separation should mean,” Richard Garnett, a University of Notre Dame law professor who focuses on freedoms of religion and speech, told The Post in an email.
Catholic News Service
Some say court’s emphasis on religious liberty meant to clear up confusion
July 03, 2022
Richard Garnett, Notre Dame professor of law and director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State and Society, similarly agreed that the court this term, and in previous terms, has been involved in “doctrinal cleanup.”
City Journal
The Lone Ranger’s Long Game
June 28, 2022
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School.
Bloomberg
Supreme Court Again Nods to History, Tradition in Religion Case
June 28, 2022
The historical test “will provide much needed clarity and consistency to an area of law that has been notoriously confused and inconsistent,” said Notre Dame Law School Professor Richard Garnett, who filed an amicus brief supporting the coach.
Catholic News Service
Supreme Court sides with coach in public school prayer case
June 27, 2022
For Richard Garnett, Notre Dame professor of law and director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State and Society, the ruling affirmed that public employees do not lose their right to religious expression in the public square.
Bloomberg
Supreme Court Backs Coach Who Lost Job Over Midfield Prayers
June 27, 2022
The ruling “confirms that the First Amendment’s rule against establishments of religion is not an excuse for censoring religious expression,” said Richard Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School.
The Hill
Supreme Court sides with high school coach who led prayer on football field
June 27, 2022
“The court has made explicit what perhaps has been implicit for a while: that the Establishment Clause is not a justification for censoring religious speech in the name of avoiding endorsements,” said Richard Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School.
CNN
Supreme Court further erodes separation between church and state in case of praying football coach
June 27, 2022
Notre Dame Law School Professor Richard W. Garnett, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Kennedy, said on Monday that the high court's ruling will "provide much needed clarity and consistency" to an area of the law that has been "notoriously confused and inconsistent."
WGN
Defining the separation of church and state
Audio
June 26, 2022
Richard Garnett, Law Professor at Notre Dame, joined WGN Radio’s Karen Conti to discuss freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
The Wall Street Journal
A Good Week for Religious Freedom
June 23, 2022
Richard Garnett is a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame and an associated scholar with the Religious Freedom Institute.
Bloomberg
Supreme Court Backs Tax Dollars for Religious Schools
Audio
June 23, 2022
Richard Garnett, a Professor at Notre Dame Law School, discusses a divided Supreme Court decision strengthening religious rights by bolstering the rights of parents to use taxpayer funds for religious education.
NPR
Supreme Court rules Maine's tuition assistance program must cover religious schools
Audio
June 21, 2022
Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett says charter schools "are a gray area.... I am genuinely curious to see how the law of charter schools develops and whether we get to a point where a charter school is permitted to be as ...religiously imbued as a parochial school is. "
Deseret News
How the fight over school prayer became a battle for the soul of the nation
June 20, 2022
So does much of the ongoing tension over the establishment clause, says Richard Garnett, professor of law and political science at the University of Notre Dame.
Law360
Dobbs Draft Hints At Bold Court With Harvard Case On Deck
June 01, 2022
Notre Dame Law School professor Richard Garnett noted that the plaintiffs in SFFA and Dobbs invoked similar arguments in saying that stare decisis, the principle establishing that prior decisions should be binding, should not be followed when the court feels that the precedential decision is "wrong."
The Indiana Lawyer
Abortion restrictions likely coming to Indiana if draft opinion is published
May 25, 2022
Richard Garnett, founding director of Notre Dame Law’s Program on Church, State and Society and former clerk for the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, co-authored an amicus brief for the Dobbs case in support of overturning Roe.
Religion News Service
With Roe in peril, abortion rights advocates prepare appeals to religious liberty
May 17, 2022
Richard Garnett, director of Notre Dame University’s Program on Church, State and Society, expressed skepticism that religious freedom challenges to abortion restrictions could prevail.
Catholic News Service
Academics consider fallout, motivations from leak on Roe decision
May 06, 2022
Richard Garnett, a Notre Dame Law School professor who clerked for the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 1996-97, wrote in a May 5 essay for Newsweek Magazine, that it is not yet clear who or what was the source of the leak, what were the leaker’s motives, whether the draft opinion reflects the court’s final decision or what will be the revelation’s electoral or political fallout in a midterm election year.
Crux
Experts say Supreme Court leak ‘astonishing and appalling’
May 04, 2022
Sherif Girgis said he felt “kind of a gut punch” after the draft of a Supreme Court majority decision was leaked late on May 2... Richard W. Garnett, a Notre Dame Law School professor who clerked for the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 1996-096 said in a statement to Crux that for the court’s sake “we should all hope that the justices will not be swayed or influenced by such efforts” regardless of one’s views on the legal questions of the case.
Newsweek
The Breach of the Supreme Court's Trust Betrays All of Us | Opinion
May 04, 2022
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl/Ft. Howard Corporation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame.
Chicago Tribune
If Roe falls, Illinois abortion providers plan for influx of 20,000 to 30,000 more patients traveling here each year. ‘We will fight for what little is left of abortion access.’
May 03, 2022
Richard W. Garnett, law professor at the Notre Dame Law School, said that if Roe and Casey are overruled, the matter of abortion regulation will shift to political and legislative contexts.
The Guardian
Roe v Wade: US supreme court preliminary vote overturns abortion ruling, leaked draft shows - live updates
May 03, 2022
Notre Dame Law School professor Richard W Garnett, a supreme court expert who clerked for the late chief justice William Rehnquist during the 1996-97 term, says the leaking of the draft document represents a “gross betrayal of trust”.
Bloomberg
Extraordinary Abortion Leak Threatens Trust at Supreme Court
May 03, 2022
“For an employee or member of the court to intentionally leak a draft opinion would be a gross betrayal of trust, particularly if the leak were an effort to advance partisan aims or to undermine the court’s work and legitimacy,” said Rick Garnett, a Notre Dame Law School professor who clerked for then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist during the 1996-97 term.
New York Post
What legal experts say will be impact of Roe v. Wade draft leak on SCOTUS
May 03, 2022
“It strikes me that if this leak was done with the intent of affecting justices’ behavior, it strikes me that whoever made that decision was really mistaken,” said Richard Garnett, a professor of freedom of speech, association and religion and constitutional law at Notre Dame.
The New York Times
A Supreme Court in Disarray After an Extraordinary Breach
May 03, 2022
The reasoning in the draft opinion is what one would expect from Justice Alito, a fierce critic of Roe and Casey, said Richard W. Garnett, a law professor at Notre Dame.
Reuters
Under pressure: Abortion leak exposes U.S. Supreme Court's disunity
May 03, 2022
University of Notre Dame Law School professor Richard Garnett, formerly a clerk for the late conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist, called it "very troubling that any employee or member of the court would violate what is a very clear rule about the confidentiality of the justices' deliberations."
WGN Radio
Did Coach Kennedy violate the separation of church and state?
Audio
May 01, 2022
Professor Richard Garnett, Professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, joined WGN Radio’s Karen Conti to address the Supreme Court case regarding high school football coach Joseph Kennedy, in Washington, being fired for kneeling at the 50 yard line after every game and saying a prayer.
Bloomberg
Praying Football Coach and Tribute to Justice Breyer
Audio
April 30, 2022
Richard Garnett, a Professor at Notre Dame Law School, discusses the Supreme Court arguments in the case of the high school football coach fired for praying on the 50-yard line after games.
Newsweek
The Constitution Protects, Not Punishes, Religious Expression | Opinion
April 29, 2022
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl/Ft. Howard Corporation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. Joseph Graziano is a student fellow in the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative.
CNN
Supreme Court takes up case of high school coach fired for praying on the football field
April 25, 2022
“It is a case about protecting all individuals’ right to speak freely – and to pray – in the public square,” Richard W. Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said in a statement.
CNN
Supreme Court conservatives appear sympathetic to former high school coach who led prayers after games
April 25, 2022
“It is a case about protecting all individuals’ right to speak freely – and to pray – in the public square,” Richard W. Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said in a statement.
Catholic News Service
Court seems to side with football coach over postgame prayers
April 25, 2022
Richard Garnett, Notre Dame professor of law and director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State and Society, said he was encouraged to see many justices skeptical of the school district’s argument that it had to censor Coach Kennedy’s private prayer in order to avoid any appearance that it had ‘endorsed’ his religious beliefs.”
Newsweek
U.S. Supreme Court: Justices question whether prayers at the 50-yard line were 'coercion" by high school coach
April 25, 2022
Notre Dame Law School Professor Richard W. Garnett, who oversaw the filing of an amicus brief in support of Kennedy, said he hopes the justices clear up the current judicial confusion over what constitutes an "establishment" of religion in public schools.
Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court conservatives lean toward allowing football coach’s postgame prayers
April 25, 2022
“This is not a case about re-imposing prayer in public-school classrooms. Instead, it is a case about protecting all individuals’ right to speak freely — and to pray — in the public square,” said Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett.
USA Today
Supreme Court to hear case of praying coach who his lost job after kneeling on the field
April 24, 2022
"This is not a case about reimposing prayer in public school classrooms," said Richard Garnett, director of the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.
ABA Journal
Supreme Court considers whether high school football coach has right to pray on the field
April 21, 2022
Richard W. Garnett IV, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, helped write a brief in support of Kennedy that calls on the court to reexamine its “endorsement test,” which asks whether a reasonable observer would think the government was endorsing a particular religious message.
Public Discourse
Abortion Laws across the Globe and at Home
March 29, 2022
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl / Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law, Concurrent Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Program on Church, State, and Society at the University of Notre Dame.
Courthouse News Service
Boston lawyers head to Washington for match up on cross flag at City Hall
January 14, 2022
Rick Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, authored an amicus brief cataloguing governments’ many recent efforts to squelch religious speech, including the University of Iowa deregistering religious student groups, Florida State University removing a member of the student senate for sharing religious views in text messages and a high school in Washington state that punished a football coach for praying on the field after games.
Our Sunday Visitor
Supreme Court hears arguments as to why it must right its past abortion wrongs
December 02, 2021
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame.
Newsweek
States Must Stop Discriminating Against Religious Schools | Opinion
November 30, 2021
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. Olivia Rodgers is a 2L Law student at the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Initiative.
Bloomberg
Religious Rights and State Secrets at SCOTUS (Podcast)
Audio
November 16, 2021
Richard Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, discusses the Supreme Court justices grappling with the religious rights of death-row inmates in the execution chamber.
USA Today
As Supreme Court hears Texas abortion cases, questions linger about vitality of Roe v. Wade
November 01, 2021
"I will be interested in the extent to which the lawyers' arguments, and the justices' questions, wander from the precise, technical questions the court agreed to review," said Richard Garnett, who co-authored a brief in support of Mississippi in the Dobbs case.
Religious Freedom Institute
Revisiting the "Separation of Church and State" in Our Time of Deep Division
October 08, 2021
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame.
Indy Star
What to know about religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine
September 13, 2021
Rick Garnett, a law professor and Director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State & Society, noted that neither public nor private institutions of higher education would be obligated to offer religious exemptions amid a general vaccine mandate, especially during a public health crisis.
The Indiana Lawyer
Web Exclusive: Could more conservative SCOTUS change abortion landscape? Experts aren’t convinced
July 07, 2021
Richard Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School and director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State & Society, wrote in an email to Indiana Lawyer that “any challenges to regulations of abortion (that invoke federal claims, as opposed to state-law ones) are going to be kind of ‘on hold’ until Dobbs is decided. Or, if a lower court has to rule on such a challenge in the interim, any appeals will certainly depend on what the Court does in Dobbs.”
First Things
After Fulton, religious foster care agencies still vulnerable
June 22, 2021
Richard W. Garnett is professor of law and concurrent professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.
USA Today
Supreme Court foster care ruling likely to prompt more tests of religion vs. LGBTQ rights
June 18, 2021
"It's been implicit in some of the things the court has been doing in recent years, especially in these COVID cases," said Richard Garnett, director of the University of Notre Dame law school program on church, state and society.
The Christian Science Monitor
Supreme Court’s day of culture war surprises
June 18, 2021
“We hear all the time about divisions and polarization and culture wars and all that stuff. But this is a 9-0 ruling in a case involving religion and gay rights. And that’s significant,” says Richard Garnett, director of the Program on Church, State, and Society at the University of Notre Dame School of Law, referring to the foster parent case.
USA Today
Religious freedom vs. LGBTQ rights: Supreme Court sides with Catholic foster care agency
June 17, 2021
"It is striking, and telling, that the court's more liberal justices joined the court's decision," said Richard Garnett, director of the University of Notre Dame law school program on church, state and society. "Today's ruling illustrates that respect for religious freedom should not be a partisan, or left-right issue."
Time
Supreme Court Sides With Catholic Agency In LBGTQ Foster Care Case—But Avoids Major Religious Freedom Questions
June 17, 2021
Legal scholars disagree about what the scale of the decision’s impact might be. “Today’s ruling is highly significant,” said Notre Dame Law School Professor Richard Garnett in a statement, pointing out that it veered from three decades of decisions that tended to disfavor religious liberty.
Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court rules for Catholic foster care agency in Philadelphia, citing discrimination
June 17, 2021
Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett predicted the ruling will not be so limited.
Catholic News Service
Supreme Court rules in favor of Catholic agency in foster case
June 17, 2021
Richard Garnett, law school professor at the University of Notre Dame and director of the university’s Program on Church, State and Society, said the Supreme Court’s ruling will have a significant impact.
Our Sunday Visitor
The Supreme Court has an opportunity to correct the mistake of ‘Roe v. Wade’
May 20, 2021
Richard W. Garnett is the Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame.
The Indiana Lawyer
Web Exclusive: Supreme Court commission goes beyond ‘court packing’
April 28, 2021
“Whether we think the founding fathers were right or not, they believed it was important for judicial power to be separate from legislative power and separate from executive power,” said Richard Garnett, a professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School.
The Deseret
Conservative justices aren’t alone in supporting religion at the Supreme Court
April 17, 2021
Even that assessment slightly overstates the gap between liberals and conservatives, said Richard Garnett, director of the program on church, state and society at the University of Notre Dame.
Bloomberg
No Right to Pray on the 50-Yard Line for Coach (Podcast)
Audio
March 22, 2021
Rick Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, discusses a 9th Circuit decision that rejects the claims of a high school football coach that he had the right to pray at the 50-yard line immediately after his team’s games.
Bloomberg
Satan’s Lawyers Try Christian-Right Tactics to Erect Winged Goat
March 22, 2021
Do they accept the church’s views as authentic or interpret them as merely a way to provoke Christians, asked Richard Garnett, a professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School and director of the Program on Church, State and Society.
USA Today
Supreme Court's COVID-19 cases stir up battle between religion, same-sex couples over foster care
March 15, 2021
“The opinions we're seeing and the votes we're seeing in the shadow docket coronavirus and church closing cases suggest that in the Fulton case, the court is going to come out in favor of the Catholic adoption agency,” said Richard Garnett, director of the University of Notre Dame law school program on church, state and society.
Bloomberg
Will Supreme Court Expand Religious Rights? (Podcast)
Audio
February 13, 2021
Rick Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, discusses a divided U.S. Supreme Court ordering California to let indoor church services resume. Jimmy Gurule, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, discusses the case for the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
Deseret News
Has Biden already burned bridges with conservative Christians?
January 22, 2021
Legal experts generally agreed that the phrase only applied to instances where someone was mistreated because of their biological sex, said Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, to the Deseret News in 2019.
Catholic News Service
Capitol invasion adds to challenges facing incoming Biden administration
January 07, 2021
Richard Garnett, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, said Congress could take the fast track to impeachment.
National Catholic Reporter
'Of course Biden is the president-elect'
December 31, 2020
Those sentiments were matched by Notre Dame Law School professor and the director of the Church, State and Society program, Rick Garnett, who compared Trump's efforts to the "tiresome election-questioning" by Hillary Clinton in 2016 and "all those who purported to believe that 'the Russians' manipulated vote-counts in 2016."
South Bend Tribune
Amy Coney Barrett helps steer the Supreme Court to the right but not toward Trump
December 31, 2020
Richard Garnett, director of the Church, State and Society program at Notre Dame Law School and a friend of Barrett’s, said she sticks by legal principles in the face of political forces.