Justices won’t hear bid to expand religious exception to worker rights

WASHINGTON (CN) — Avoiding questions of so-called ministerial duty for teachers at religious colleges, the U.S. Supreme Court passed Monday on an appeal from a Christian college in Massachusetts after the state's highest court allowed an employment discrimination case against the school to go to trial. 

Margaret DeWeese-Boyd sued Gordon College after it denied the tenured associate professor of social work a promotion to full professor in 2016. Despite the Faculty Senate unanimously recommending her for the gig, the college said its decision was based on her lack of scholarly work.

DeWeese-Boyd, however, argued in state court that the denial was based on her advocacy for the LGBTQ community, with goes against the school’s religious beliefs. 

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided with DeWeese-Boyd, finding the so-called ministerial exception - a legal doctrine that protects religious institutions from most discrimination claims - did not apply to her.

Gordon College appealed to the Supreme Court, but the justices decided Monday not to take up the case this term.

While the denial may be good news for the professor for now, a statement written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito respecting the denial suggests it won't be the last time the issue comes before the nation's highest court. 

“I have doubts about the state court’s understanding of religious education and, accordingly, its application of the ministerial exception,” the George W. Bush appointee wrote about the core question on appeal: whether a school can extend its protection of religious teachings to subjects traditionally outside the faith-based sphere. 

Relying heavily on the court’s 2020 decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, Alito said the ministerial exception protects the “‘autonomy’ of ‘churches and other religious institutions’ in the selection of the employees who ‘play certain key roles.’"

The Massachusetts high court's decision was based on a distinction between the social work program and the school’s broader religious studies, noting DeWeese-Boyd didn't "teach religion or religious texts, lead her students in prayer, take students to chapel services or other religious services."

Alito called the distinction “troubling and narrow.”

“Religious education at Gordon College does not end as soon as a student passes those required [faith-specific] courses and leaves the chapel,” he wrote, instead suggesting the school aims to "integrate” faith and learning in all subjects. 

Still, Alito – joined in his statement by fellow conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – agreed to turn away the dispute for now, because the August 2021 appeal was based solely on the school losing on a summary judgment motion and not a final ruling in the case.

"On that understanding, I concur in the denial of certiorari," Alito wrote, citing part of DeWeese-Boyd’s response brief suggesting a later appeal on the merits.

John Bursch, senior counsel at the Washington-based Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Gordon College, said the group was pleased with Alito’s comments despite the case not being added to the docket.

“Gordon’s professors are key to teaching the Christian faith to students, who choose to attend Gordon because they want to integrate their faith and learning,” he said in an emailed statement. “And the First Amendment is clear: The government has no business telling a faith-based college how to exercise its faith.”

Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, represented DeWeese-Boyd in the response to Gordon's request for cert. She said she was glad the appeal was denied but was worried what Alito's comments mean for the case and the separation of church and state going forward. 

“The ministerial exception was meant to ensure that houses of worship could freely choose their clergy," said Laser. "It was never intended to be a free pass for any religious employer to discriminate against its entire workforce and sidestep civil-rights laws."

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