Jake Neill and Phillip Allevato Attend Groff v. DeJoy Argument at United States Supreme Court

On April 18th, Pepperdine Caruso Law second-year students Jake Neill and Phillip Allevato attended oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy at the Supreme Court of the United States. Groff involves the US Postal Service's rejection of a postal-worker's request for a religious accommodation that would allow him not to deliver Amazon packages on Sunday (the mail is not delivered on Sunday). Neill and Allevato arrived at the Court at 4:00 AM to obtain a spot to get into the courtroom, and saw the United States Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and Baker Botts partner Aaron Streett argue the case to the Justices.

Neill and Allevato both participate in Caruso Law's Washington, DC program, run by professor Nancy Hunt. The program allows students to spend a spring semester in Washington, DC, taking classes taught by Professor Hunt and externing for the government or private organizations. Neill was an extern at the US Attorney's Office - Civil Division, and Allevato was an extern with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

The case was especially meaningful for both students because Neill wrote his law review paper on the Establishment Clause, and Allevato contributed to Becket's amicus brief in support of the postal worker. Pepperdine's Hugh and Hazel Darling Religious Liberty Clinic also wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the Orthodox Union, emphasizing the particular need for Jewish Americans to receive religious accommodations in employment. After the argument, Allevato attended a reception for amici, where he met the petitioner, Gerald Groff, and Nathan Diament, executive director for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center.