Appellate judges revive Jewish couple’s lawsuit alleging adoption bias under Tennessee law

By JONATHAN MATTISE
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An appeals panel has revived a couple’s lawsuit that alleges a Tennessee law unconstitutionally protects a decision by a state-sponsored Christian adoption agency not to help them because they are Jewish. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals ruled that Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram and six other plaintiffs have the right as taxpayers to sue in the case. The lawsuit against the state challenges a 2020 law that installed legal protections for private adoption agencies to reject state-funded placement of children to parents based on religious beliefs. In 2022, a group of trial court judges were split in saying the couple didn’t have standing to sue.