(Anchorage, AK) – Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy issued the following statement today following the U.S. Supreme Court decision on expression of religious acts.

“This is a significant decision for the First Amendment, freedom of religion, and the people of Alaska,” said Governor Dunleavy “this opinion reaffirms the rights of U.S. Citizens and Alaskans to express their religion without fear of retaliation.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 today in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that the free exercise and free speech clauses of the First Amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance from any reprisal from the government.

Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the court stating “respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic. Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a personal religious observance, based on a mistaken view that it has a duty to suppress religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”

The State of Alaska joined this amicus brief affirming religious freedom and freedom of expression under the First Amendment.