SCOTUS Upholds Church Autonomy in Employment Decisions

The United States Supreme Court has issued a monumental decision protecting the independence of American churches in church governance matters.

The High Court ruled that churches have the constitutionally guaranteed freedom to make their own employment decisions free from government interference.

The case involved an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by a teacher against the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran School in Redford, Michigan. She had been commissioned as a “minister of religion” within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

The Supreme Court upheld what has become known as the “ministerial exception.” That theory of constitutional law, previously enunciated by appellate courts, stated that churches hold the constitutional prerogative to determine the qualifications and credentials of their own ministers.

“The Free Exercise Clause protects a religious group’s right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. “According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclessiastical decisions.”

“The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important,” Roberts continued. “But so too is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission.”

The decision was most striking in its unanimity, with all nine justices endorsing absolute unfettered religious freedom for churches, including new appointees Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotamayor, and longtime ultraliberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Obama Administration had filed a brief in the case supporting the right of the government to enforce employment discrimination law against churches. Justice Department attorneys had argued that the government has the right to intrude in the internal affairs of churches just as they do with labor unions, social clubs and other groups of free association.

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