Department of Justice attorneys submitted a 35-page brief to the Supreme Court asking it to rule in favour of Catholic Social Services (CSS), a Philadelphia-based adoption agency that insists it should be allowed to turn away same-sex couples under the First Amendment.
CSS has already been ruled against by a number of lower courts, but the Supreme Court agreed to take up the case earlier this year.
The United States government is not a party in the case, which means that the brief was submitted voluntarily, the Washington Blade reports.
In its brief, the Department of Justice says the United States has “a substantial interest” in Fulton v City of Philadelphia because the government believes “free exercise of religion” should be protected.
The Department of Justice notes that CSS will only work with married heterosexual couples or single people “because it adheres to the belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman”.
“It regards all same-sex couples as unmarried,” the brief states.
Remarkably, the Department of Justice goes on to defend CSS, saying they will happily refer same-sex couples to other foster agencies.
The department goes on to argue that the city of Philadelphia “singled out religious organisations” for investigation and “suggested that religious beliefs are merely a pretext for discrimination.”
In its court filings, Catholic Social Services asserts a constitutional right to use its faith-based criteria to turn away same-sex couples as prospective foster families while providing services for children in Philadelphia’s public foster care system.