Washington court upholds restriction on sex offender’s church attendance (Religion Clause)

“The State has a compelling interest to protect families who attend church services,” a Washington state court ruled in the case of a sex offender who “committed the offense in a church. He abused a seven-year-old in the church playroom while the congregation enjoyed lunch upstairs.” The sex offender, who is required to be supervised in church by an adult aware of his crime, argued that his constitutional free-exercise rights were being violated.