How many justices have to agree to hear a case????
I would think there are four who would agree to hear those cases, but what do I know???
I think four have to agree as well.
I don’t know the answer to your question, but annually there are 6,000-7,000 petitions filed in the Supreme Court. They hear maybe 150. They just can’t take every case, and the case they do take have to have a serious constitutional question.
In both of these instances, there are alternatives and options available to the appellants. Catholic Charities can stop hiring and serving non-Catholics, thereby earning the religious group exemption to the NY law.
The SF church can find another place to meet. They are not being prohibited from holding services, just can’t hold them in the local library.
We’re granted freedom to practice our religion. Nothing in the Constitution says we’re entitled to practice it at a given place. If the people who live and vote in the area think it’s wrong to prohibit that group from meeting in their public library, they can force a referendum, or vote out the incumbents and put in other local lawmakers that would insist the library be available to religious groups for their services.
4, but generally they don’t do it unless they think they have a 5th vote.