
Appellate court sides with Amish community in religious freedom septic tank case
Fox News
Minnesota's Swartzentruber Amish scored a legal victory Monday when a three-judge panel ruled against state regulations mandating septic systems for disposal of "gray water."
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.