Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru

In the 2012 case Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,[1] the Supreme Court unanimously decided that, in employing leaders, a religious organization need not adhere to federal employment discrimination laws, creating the ministerial exception. Chief Justice John Roberts had written in the opinion that "the Establishment Clause prevents the Government from appointing ministers, and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own".[2] The case had centered on Cheryl Perich, a teacher at the school in question and who was terminated after being diagnosed with narcolepsy. In arriving at defining Perich's role in the school as ministerial, and thus not covered by discrimination laws, Roberts wrote four considerations that they had made for "the formal title given Perich by the Church, the substance reflected in that title, her own use of that title, and the important religious functions she performed for the Church", but Roberts further cautioned that "We are reluctant, however, to adopt a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister."[1]

For St. James School v. Biel, Kristen Biel was hired as a teacher at St. James School, a Catholic school, in Torrance, California in the 2013 school year. She had been warned about the state of noise and mess in her classroom by the school administration which she was expected to correct and which she said she would remedy. Her classroom did not improve and near the mid-point of the school year, in January 2014, she was cautioned her contract may not be renewed if she failed to improve her classroom. In May 2014, Biel learned she had breast cancer and informed the administration of the need to stop teaching to undergo therapy. She was kept on contract through the rest of the school year, but the school did not renew her contract for the 2014 school year based on "classroom managements".[3] Biel filed notice with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), believing her termination violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the EEOC gave her authorization to sue the school in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The District Court issued summary judgement for St. James on the basis that Biel's position fell into that covered by Hosanna-Tabor as ministerial and thus immune from discrimination laws.[4] Biel appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which reversed the District Court's ruling.[5] The Ninth compared Biel's situation to that from Hosanna-Tabor and found that while there were similar religious duties involved in both cases, Biel's position was more akin to teaching from a book than ministerial using the four considerations Roberts listed in Hosanna-Tabor, and thus Biel's position was covered by federal discrimination laws. An en banc request by St. James to the full Ninth Circuit was denied. Biel since died from her cancer, but her case continued to be handled her husband representing her estate.[3]

In the case background of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, Agnes Morrissey-Berru was a teacher at Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Hermosa Beach, California, a Catholic school. Due to dwindling enrollment and funds, more pressure had been put on the teaching staff starting in the 2012 school year, expecting them to become certified in catecheist teaching and adapting certain programs in classes to maintain their Catholic teaching approach, which Morrissey-Berru failed to do as she was not a practicing Catholic. After transitioning her to a part-time position in the 2014 school year to try to amend the situation, the school opted to not renew her contract in 2015 on the basis of her teaching performance. Morrissey-Berru engaged with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file a complaint against the school, asserting that she had been terminated unfairly on the basis of her age, under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). The Central District of California Court issued a summary judgement in favor of the school, asserting that Morrissey-Berru's position was that of a ministry and thus falling within the bounds of Hosanna-Tabor and preventing the school from being liable for discrimination.[6] The EEOC appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which reversed the District Court's decision based on the prior decision in Biel following the same reasoning, that Morrissey-Berru's position had similar duties but was not fully ministerial based on Roberts' four considerations, particularly as a non-Catholic.[7] Thus, she was covered by discrimination laws. An en banc request was also denied.[3]

Both cases petitioned to the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the Ninth Circuit in light of Hosanna-Tabor. The Supreme Court certified both cases in December 2019, consolidating them under Our Lady of Guadalupe.[8]

Oral arguments were heard via teleconference on May 11, 2020, part of the block of cases held in this manner due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Justices asked questions of how to define a ministerial position as to trigger the ministerial exception to the discrimination rules without too much disruption, as well as when termination is made for reasons that have nothing to do with religious function.[3]

The Court issued its decision on July 8, 2020, reversing the Ninth Circuit's ruling in both consolidated cases and remanding them for review. In the 7–2 majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by all but Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, the Court ruled that the Ninth had erred in applying the four Hosanna-Tabor conditions that must all be met to evoke the ministerial exception, and instead should be based primarily on the religious function that the position serves within the organization. Alito wrote: "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. 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."[9]

Sotomayor wrote a dissent that was joined by Ginsburg, arguing that the decision gave religious organizations a wide berth of power to dismiss employees unrelated to the religious purpose of the organization. Sotomayor wrote "This sweeping result is profoundly unfair. Recently, this Court has lamented a perceived 'discrimination against religion.' Yet here it swings the pendulum in the extreme opposite direction, permitting religious entities to discriminate widely and with impunity for reasons wholly divorced from religious beliefs. The inherent injustice in the Court's conclusion will be impossible to ignore for long, particularly in a pluralistic society like ours."[10]

• Text of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, No. 19-267, 591 U.S. ___ (2020) is available from:  Justia  Oyez (oral argument audio)  Supreme Court (slip opinion)