Kate Scanlon

Indiana Rep. Bob Morris, R-Fort Wayne, recently filed legislation to repeal the death penalty in Indiana and had asked Gov. Eric Holcomb in a letter to delay the execution of Joseph Corcoran at least until the state General Assembly could consider his bill.

Police in Madison, Wisconsin, said they are investigating a mass shooting at that city's Abundant Life Christian School Dec. 16 that left at least two killed and six injured, authorities said. The gunman is also dead, they said.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 13 agreed to hear a case from the Catholic Charities Bureau of the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, in which the agency argued a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court denying its religious exemption from paying into the state's unemployment insurance system.

The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump plans to rescind a long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals, according to a report by NBC News.

President-elect Donald Trump's plans to launch a mass deportation program could crash the economy by increasing inflation and unemployment and undermine trust in the U.S. military, some witnesses said at a Senate hearing Dec. 10.

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House in January, activists on both sides of the abortion debate have been left to grapple with some lack of clarity from him on the issue.

The U.S. bishops' conference was among the groups that urged President Joe Biden on Dec. 9 to commute existing federal death sentences before President-elect Donald Trump, who has sought to expand the use of capital punishment, returns to the White House.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Dec. 4 a challenge to a Tennessee state law banning certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender, the high court's first major step toward weighing in on the controversial issue.

Amid controversy over religious-themed tattoos sported by President-elect Trump's pick for defense secretary, a U.S. office of a Vatican lay institution for the church in the Holy Land has expressed concern regarding the misuse of its historic insignia.

U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled the law violated court precedent and the First Amendment. 

"Sadly, this court decision will likely end the program, as Trump will terminate it upon taking office," J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and the former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News.

A number of U.S. Catholic dioceses and their bishops have issued statements disavowing fake Catholic newspapers that have resurfaced in swing states ahead of the presidential election to target Catholic voters on key issues.

A diverse group of religious organizations weighed in to ask the Supreme Court to protect an Apache sacred site from destruction by a copper mining giant, including Catholic ones: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Knights of Columbus, and Notre Dame Law School's Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic, all filed friend of the court briefs, also known as amicus briefs, in support.

The U.S. Supreme Court Oct. 9 considered a bipartisan appeal to reverse the death penalty conviction of Richard Glossip, a case in which Oklahoma's Republican attorney general and Republican lawmakers have also intervened on his behalf.

The Supreme Court Oct. 7 began its new term, which is scheduled to include cases involving school policies regarding students who identify as transgender, the regulation of so-called "ghost guns," the death penalty and whether adults can be required to provide their IDs as age verification to access pornographic websites.

Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, urged its supporters to speak out against what it called a "regressive" trend of five executions in five states in the span of one week.

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers gathered Sept. 18 to call for the immediate release from prison of prominent Hong Kong Catholic, philanthropist and media mogul Jimmy Lai, who is facing a trial on what they called bogus charges.

Amid an unprecedented U.S. presidential election cycle, Catholic voters should reflect on fostering key principles of Catholic social teaching — such as respect for human life, solidarity and the common good — through dialogue and civic engagement, panelists said at a discussion event Sept. 11 hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.

A coalition of Western Apache people, along with other Native American and non-Indigenous supporters, under the banner of the non-profit Apache Stronghold, asked the U.S. Supreme Court Sept. 11 to protect their sacred site at Oak Flat, Arizona, from destruction by a copper mining giant after a federal appeals court rejected their request.
 

Voters in states with abortion referendums on the ballot in November broadly appear poised to approve the efforts to codify abortion protections, according to polls of those contests.