Religious schools are exempt from bias suits
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that religious schools are exempt from most employment discrimination claims, doubling down on the autonomy religious employers enjoy to choose their leaders.
The 7-2 ruling came in two disputes between Catholic schools in California and the teachers they fired. Under a so-called ministerial exception, religious employers are given autonomy over their workers that is not available to other employers.
Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote the court’s majority opinion. Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
“The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of the teachers upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission,” Alito wrote. “Judicial review of the way in which religious schools discharge those responsibilities would undermine the independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate.”
Sotomayor argued that the school’s opinion regarding the teachers’ religious role should not be the final word.
“That simplistic approach has no basis in law and strips thousands of school teachers of their legal protections,” she said.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the high court’s unanimous opinion in 2012 that allowed religious organizations to choose leaders regardless of federal job discrimination laws. The latest question was whether the fired teachers performed enough religious duties to be considered “ministers” exempt from those laws.
Fifth grade teacher Kristen Biel was let go from St. James Catholic School after developing breast cancer and seeking leave to undergo chemotherapy. She sued successfully under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the school appealed. Biel lost her battle with the disease last year, leaving her husband, Darryl, to carry on her challenge.
The other teacher, Agnes Morrissey-Berru, who is not a practicing Catholic, taught for 16 years at Our Lady of Guadalupe School but was let go, the school said, based on her performance. She claimed age discrimination.
The schools relied on the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled the teachers deserved their day in court. The Trump administration took the schools’ side.