Late August, Yeshiva University filed an emergency request seeking to block a court order requiring the University to recognize an LGBTQ club, “Pride Alliance.” 

The University filed the emergency request with the Supreme Court after the New York Court of Appeals refused to review the institution’s request. The Washington Journal (WSJ) reports that “New York says Yeshiva doesn’t qualify for a religious exemption. The argument seems to be that because it is incorporated as an educational institution—its motto is Torah Umadda, roughly, Torah plus secular knowledge—it can’t claim to be a religious institution and therefore has no right to an exemption.” 

Yeshiva University said in court papers “As a deeply religious Jewish university, Yeshiva cannot comply with that order because doing so would violate its sincere religious beliefs about how to form its undergraduate students in Torah values.” 

However, students from the institution challenge the university’s stance arguing it violates the law by fostering an environment of discrimination based on sexual orientation. WSJ reports that “Justice Sotomayor was also the one who in 2013 issued a last-minute injunction halting enforcement of the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate against the Little Sisters of the Poor. Like the Little Sisters, who ultimately prevailed, Yeshiva is being represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.” 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor temporarily blocked the court order that would force Yeshiva University to recognize an LGBTQ group. Although Yeshiva lost at the lower court, Sotomayor’s ruling preserved its institution’s religious rights.