US Supreme Court Hears Religious Liberty Case Affecting Shabbos Observance in Groff v. DeJoy

by YS Gold 

In these moments, the United States Supreme Court is hearing a case that will affect the lives of countless Shabbos-observant Jews. 

Groff vs. DeJoy is a case in which Gerald Groff, a mailman from Pennsylvania, is suing the USPS, through its Postmaster General Louis DeJOy, for compelling him to work on Sunday, his day of rest according to his religion. 

It began when the United States Postal Service contracted with Amazon to deliver packages on Sundays. Groff did everything he could to avoid Sunday shifts, but the postal service took disciplinary action against him. Insistent on sticking to his religious convictions, he switched post offices and took on extra weekday shifts, and when that didn’t help, he resigned from the service altogether.

Both the trial court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against him in his suit against the USPS, holding that his absence on Sunday caused an “undue burden” on his co-workers. A statement by Agudath Israel asserted that this is a very loose application of undue burden, in which even a trivial hardship is considered a burden. 

Agudah has joined the suit, filing a “friend of the court brief” in support of Mr. Groff. The brief was authored by constitutional scholar Nat Lewin who has argued many cases in front of the court, and has spoken during the proceedings of this case as well.    

Standing outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon as the hearings were taking place, Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel's national director for state relations, said, “Agudath Israel has received countless calls over the years by Shabbos-observant Jews who been terminated, or are unable to accept certain jobs, due to their religious beliefs. Should the court side with us, it will be a victory for Shabbos observers in the United States.”