On July 8, 2020 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. civil rights laws barring discrimination on the job do not apply to most lay teachers at religious elementary schools. The decision extends earlier Supreme...more
The U.S. Supreme Court (“the Court”) today re-emphasized the “ministerial exception” to discrimination laws. The “ministerial exception” is a court-created doctrine that prevents the U.S. courts from becoming entangled in the...more
Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, No. 19-267: The Court has recognized that the First Amendment protects the right of religious institutions “to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of...more
Whether the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses prevent civil courts from adjudicating employment discrimination claims brought by employees against their religious employer, where the employee carried out important...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review two consolidated cases that will afford it an opportunity to develop the “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws it first announced in a 2012 case, Hosanna-Tabor...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Biel v. St. James School, the Ninth Circuit once again split from other circuit courts, this time by narrowly construed an affirmative defense known as the “ministerial exception” that bars claims of...more
Can an organist really be considered a church minister? In a detailed and unique opinion, an Illinois federal court applied the First Amendment’s religious clauses to a church employee who claimed he had been discriminated...more