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Researh Service
UPDATE: Our Lady of Guadalupe and the
Ministerial Exception to Antidiscrimination
Laws
Updated July 9, 2020
Update: The Supreme Court issued its opinion in Our Lady of Guadalupe on July 8, 2020, reversing the
Ninth Circuit decisions and ruling that the First Amendment barred courts from hearing the teachers'
employment discrimination claims. Justice A lito, writing the majority opinion, stated that a variety of
factors could determine whether a religious organization's employment decisions are constitutionally
protected with respect to any given employee, cwirfying that the specificfactors noted in Hosanna-Tabor
were not inflexible requirements or checklist items to be assessed... in every case. A lthough the
teachers in the combined cases before the Court did not have the job title of minister, the Court
concluded that they nonetheless performed vital religious duties at the schools where they taught. In
the Court's view, educating young people in their faith, inculcating its teachings, and training them to
live their faith are responsibilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private religious school.
Accordingly, the Court said, intervening in such a dispute would threaten[] the school's independence in
a way that the First Amendment does not allow. Justice Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justice
Ginsbuig. She emphasized that the teachers taught primarily secular subjects, lacked substantial
religious titles and training, and were not even required to be Catholic. In addition to the teachers'
functions, the dissent's anal sis continued to focus on the other objective and easily discernable
factors highlighted in Hosanna-Tabor.
The original post from April 30, 2020, is below.
On May 11, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral argument by telephone in two cases involving a doctrine
known as the ministerial exception. The ministerial exception prevents courts from interfering with
churches' decisions to fire, demote, or otherwise discipline their ministers-even if those actions would
otherwise violate federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Lower courts have divided on the
question of when a religious organization's employee qualifies as a minister under this doctrine. Two
c as es, c ombined under the caption Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey -Berr, present the
Supreme Court with the opportunity to clarify when teachers at religious schools should be considered
ministers who are unprotected by federal antidiscrimination laws. This Legal Sidebar discusses Supreme
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB10455
CRS Lega i&sebar
Prepared .'or Membersand
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