SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL v. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
CHURCH AND SCHOOL v. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION ET AL.
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
No. 10–553. Argued October 5, 2011—Decided January 11, 2012
Petitioner Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. The Synod classifies its school teachers into two categories: “called”and “lay.” “Called” teachers are regarded as having been called totheir vocation by God. To be eligible to be considered “called,” ateacher must complete certain academic requirements, including acourse of theological study. Once called, a teacher receives the formal title “Minister of Religion, Commissioned.” “Lay” teachers, by contrast, are not required to be trained by the Synod or even to be Lutheran. Although lay and called teachers at Hosanna-Tabor generally performed the same duties, lay teachers were hired only when called teachers were unavailable. After respondent Cheryl Perich completed the required training, Hosanna-Tabor asked her to become a called teacher. Perich accepted the call and was designated a commissioned minister. In addition to teaching secular subjects, Perich taught a religion class, led herstudents in daily prayer and devotional exercises, and took her students to a weekly school-wide chapel service. Perich led the chapel service herself about twice a year. Perich developed narcolepsy and began the 2004–2005 school yearon disability leave. In January 2005, she notified the school principalthat she would be able to report to work in February. The principal responded that the school had already contracted with a lay teacher to fill Perich's position for the remainder of the school year. The principal also expressed concern that Perich was not yet ready to return to the classroom. The congregation subsequently offered to pay
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a portion of Perich's health insurance premiums in exchange for her resignation as a called teacher. Perich refused to resign. In February, Perich presented herself at the school and refused to leave until she received written documentation that she had reported to work. The principal later called Perich and told her that she would likely befired. Perich responded that she had spoken with an attorney and intended to assert her legal rights. In a subsequent letter, the chairman of the school board advised Perich that the congregation would consider whether to rescind her call at its next meeting. As grounds for termination, the letter cited Perich's “insubordination and disruptive behavior,” as well as the damage she had done to her “workingrelationship” with the school by “threatening to take legal action.” The congregation voted to rescind Perich's call, and Hosanna-Taborsent her a letter of termination.
Perich filed a charge with the Equal Employment OpportunityCommission, claiming that her employment had been terminated inviolation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC brought suit against Hosanna-Tabor, alleging that Perich had been fired inretaliation for threatening to file an ADA lawsuit. Perich intervened in the litigation. Invoking what is known as the “ministerial exception,” Hosanna-Tabor argued that the suit was barred by the FirstAmendment because the claims concerned the employment relationship between a religious institution and one of its ministers. The District Court agreed and granted summary judgment in HosannaTabor's favor. The Sixth Circuit vacated and remanded. It recognized the existence of a ministerial exception rooted in the First Amendment, but concluded that Perich did not qualify as a “minister”under the exception.
Held:
1. The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment bar suits brought on behalf of ministers against theirchurches, claiming termination in violation of employment discrimination laws. Pp. 6–15.
(a) The First Amendment provides, in part, that “Congress shallmake no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Familiar with life under the established Church of England, the founding generation sought to foreclose the possibility of a national church. By forbidding the “establishment of religion” and guaranteeing the “free exercise thereof,” the Religion Clauses ensured that the new Federal Government—unlike the English Crown—would have no role in filling ecclesiastical offices. Pp. 6–
10.
(b) This Court first considered the issue of government interference with a church's ability to select its own ministers in the context
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of disputes over church property. This Court's decisions in that area confirm that it is impermissible for the government to contradict achurch's determination of who can act as its ministers. See Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. 679; Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church in North America, 344 U. S. 94; Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for United States and Canada v. Milivojevich, 426
U. S. 696. Pp. 10–12.
(c) Since the passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964and other employment discrimination laws, the Courts of Appeals have uniformly recognized the existence of a “ministerial exception,” grounded in the First Amendment, that precludes application of suchlegislation to claims concerning the employment relationship between a religious institution and its ministers. The Court agrees that there is such a ministerial exception. Requiring a church to accept orretain an unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to doso, intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify itsbeliefs. By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments. According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister tothe faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibitsgovernment involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions.
The EEOC and Perich contend that religious organizations can defend against employment discrimination claims by invoking theirFirst Amendment right to freedom of association. They thus see noneed—and no basis—for a special rule for ministers grounded in theReligion Clauses themselves. Their position, however, is hard to square with the text of the First Amendment itself, which gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations. The Court cannot accept the remarkable view that the Religion Clauses havenothing to say about a religious organization's freedom to select itsown ministers.
The EEOC and Perich also contend that Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872, precludes recognition of a ministerial exception. But Smith involved government regulation of only outward physical acts. The present case, in contrast,concerns government interference with an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself. Pp. 13–15.
2. Because Perich was a minister within the meaning of the ministerial exception, the First Amendment requires dismissal of this employment discrimination suit against her religious employer. Pp. 15–
21.
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(a)
The ministerial exception is not limited to the head of a religious congregation. The Court, however, does not adopt a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister. Here, it is enough to conclude that the exception covers Perich, given all the circumstances of her employment. Hosanna-Tabor held her out as a minister, with a role distinct from that of most of its members. That title represented a significant degree of religious training followed by a formal process of commissioning. Perich also held herself out as a minister by, for example, accepting the formal call to religious service. And her job duties reflected a role in conveying the Church's message and carrying out its mission: As a source of religious instruction, Perich played an important part in transmitting the Lutheran faith.
In concluding that Perich was not a minister under the exception,the Sixth Circuit committed three errors. First, it failed to see anyrelevance in the fact that Perich was a commissioned minister. Although such a title, by itself, does not automatically ensure coverage,the fact that an employee has been ordained or commissioned as a minister is surely relevant, as is the fact that significant religious training and a recognized religious mission underlie the descriptionof the employee's position. Second, the Sixth Circuit gave too much weight to the fact that lay teachers at the school performed the samereligious duties as Perich. Though relevant, it cannot be dispositivethat others not formally recognized as ministers by the church perform the same functions—particularly when, as here, they did so onlybecause commissioned ministers were unavailable. Third, the Sixth Circuit placed too much emphasis on Perich's performance of secular duties. Although the amount of time an employee spends on particular activities is relevant in assessing that employee's status, that factor cannot be considered in isolation, without regard to the other considerations discussed above. Pp. 15–19.
(b)
Because Perich was a minister for purposes of the exception, this suit must be dismissed. An order reinstating Perich as a called teacher would have plainly violated the Church's freedom under theReligion Clauses to select its own ministers. Though Perich no longer seeks reinstatement, she continues to seek frontpay, backpay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney's fees. An award of such relief would operate as a penalty on the Church for terminatingan unwanted minister, and would be no less prohibited by the FirstAmendment than an order overturning the termination. Such relief would depend on a determination that Hosanna-Tabor was wrong to have relieved Perich of her position, and it is precisely such a rulingthat is barred by the ministerial exception.
Any suggestion that Hosanna-Tabor's asserted religious reason for
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firing Perich was pretextual misses the point of the ministerial exception. The purpose of the exception is not to safeguard a church'sdecision to fire a minister only when it is made for a religious reason. The exception instead ensures that the authority to select and control who will minister to the faithful is the church's alone. Pp. 19–20.
(c) Today the Court holds only that the ministerial exception barsan employment discrimination suit brought on behalf of a minister, challenging her church's decision to fire her. The Court expresses no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits. Pp. 20–21.
597 F. 3d 769, reversed.
ROBERTS, C. J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. THOM-AS, J., filed a concurring opinion. ALITO, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which KAGAN, J., joined.
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NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in thepreliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested tonotify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in orderthat corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 10–553
HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
CHURCH AND SCHOOL, PETITIONER v.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
COMMISSION ET AL.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
[January 11, 2012]
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS delivered the opinion of theCourt.
Certain employment discrimination laws authorize employees who have been wrongfully terminated to suetheir employers for reinstatement and damages. The question presented is whether the Establishment and FreeExercise Clauses of the First Amendment bar such an action when the employer is a religious group and theemployee is one of the group's ministers.
I
A
Petitioner Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Churchand School is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, the second largest Lutherandenomination in America. Hosanna-Tabor operated a small school in Redford, Michigan, offering a “Christcentered education” to students in kindergarten througheighth grade. 582 F. Supp. 2d 881, 884 (ED Mich. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted).
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The Synod classifies teachers into two categories:“called” and “lay.” “Called” teachers are regarded ashaving been called to their vocation by God through acongregation. To be eligible to receive a call from a congregation, a teacher must satisfy certain academic requirements. One way of doing so is by completing a “colloquy” program at a Lutheran college or university. The program requires candidates to take eight courses of theological study, obtain the endorsement of their local Synod district, and pass an oral examination by a faculty committee. A teacher who meets these requirements maybe called by a congregation. Once called, a teacher receives the formal title “Minister of Religion, Commissioned.” App. 42, 48. A commissioned minister serves for an open-ended term; at Hosanna-Tabor, a call could berescinded only for cause and by a supermajority vote of the congregation.
“Lay” or “contract” teachers, by contrast, are not required to be trained by the Synod or even to be Lutheran. At Hosanna-Tabor, they were appointed by the schoolboard, without a vote of the congregation, to one-yearrenewable terms. Although teachers at the school generally performed the same duties regardless of whether theywere lay or called, lay teachers were hired only when called teachers were unavailable.
Respondent Cheryl Perich was first employed byHosanna-Tabor as a lay teacher in 1999. After Perich completed her colloquy later that school year, Hosanna-Tabor asked her to become a called teacher. Perich accepted thecall and received a “diploma of vocation” designating her a commissioned minister. Id., at 42.
Perich taught kindergarten during her first four yearsat Hosanna-Tabor and fourth grade during the 2003–2004 school year. She taught math, language arts, social studies, science, gym, art, and music. She also taught a religion class four days a week, led the students in prayer and
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devotional exercises each day, and attended a weekly school-wide chapel service. Perich led the chapel service herself about twice a year.
Perich became ill in June 2004 with what was eventually diagnosed as narcolepsy. Symptoms included sudden and deep sleeps from which she could not be roused.Because of her illness, Perich began the 2004–2005 schoolyear on disability leave. On January 27, 2005, however, Perich notified the school principal, Stacey Hoeft, that shewould be able to report to work the following month. Hoeft responded that the school had already contractedwith a lay teacher to fill Perich's position for the remainder of the school year. Hoeft also expressed concern that Perich was not yet ready to return to the classroom.
On January 30, Hosanna-Tabor held a meeting of itscongregation at which school administrators stated thatPerich was unlikely to be physically capable of returning to work that school year or the next. The congregationvoted to offer Perich a “peaceful release” from her call, whereby the congregation would pay a portion of her health insurance premiums in exchange for her resignation as a called teacher. Id., at 178, 186. Perich refused to resign and produced a note from her doctor stating thatshe would be able to return to work on February 22. The school board urged Perich to reconsider, informing her that the school no longer had a position for her, but Perichstood by her decision not to resign.
On the morning of February 22—the first day she wasmedically cleared to return to work—Perich presented herself at the school. Hoeft asked her to leave but she would not do so until she obtained written documentation that she had reported to work. Later that afternoon, Hoeft called Perich at home and told her that she would likely befired. Perich responded that she had spoken with anattorney and intended to assert her legal rights.
Following a school board meeting that evening, board
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chairman Scott Salo sent Perich a letter stating that Hosanna-Tabor was reviewing the process for rescinding her call in light of her “regrettable” actions. Id., at 229. Salo subsequently followed up with a letter advisingPerich that the congregation would consider whether to rescind her call at its next meeting. As grounds for termination, the letter cited Perich's “insubordination and disruptive behavior” on February 22, as well as the damage she had done to her “working relationship” with theschool by “threatening to take legal action.” Id., at 55. The congregation voted to rescind Perich's call on April 10, and Hosanna-Tabor sent her a letter of termination the next day.
B Perich filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that her employment had been terminated in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 104 Stat. 327, 42 U. S. C. §12101 et seq. (1990). The ADA prohibits an employer from discriminating against a qualified individual on the basis of disability. §12112(a). It also prohibits an employer from retaliating “against any individual because such individual has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by [the ADA] or because such individual made a charge, testified, assisted,
or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under [the ADA].” §12203(a).1 ——————
1The ADA itself provides religious entities with two defenses to claims of discrimination that arise under subchapter I of the Act. The first provides that “[t]his subchapter shall not prohibit a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society from giving preference in employment to individuals of a particular religion toperform work connected with the carrying on by such [entity] of its activities.” §12113(d)(1) (2006 ed., Supp. III). The second provides that“[u]nder this subchapter, a religious organization may require that all applicants and employees conform to the religious tenets of such organization.” §12113(d)(2). The ADA's prohibition against retaliation,
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The EEOC brought suit against Hosanna-Tabor, alleging that Perich had been fired in retaliation for threatening to file an ADA lawsuit. Perich intervened in the litigation, claiming unlawful retaliation under both the ADA and the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil RightsAct, Mich. Comp. Laws §37.1602(a) (1979). The EEOC and Perich sought Perich's reinstatement to her former position (or frontpay in lieu thereof), along with backpay,compensatory and punitive damages, attorney's fees, and other injunctive relief.
Hosanna-Tabor moved for summary judgment. Invoking what is known as the “ministerial exception,” theChurch argued that the suit was barred by the First Amendment because the claims at issue concerned the employment relationship between a religious institution and one of its ministers. According to the Church, Perichwas a minister, and she had been fired for a religiousreason—namely, that her threat to sue the Church violated the Synod's belief that Christians should resolve their disputes internally.
The District Court agreed that the suit was barred bythe ministerial exception and granted summary judgmentin Hosanna-Tabor's favor. The court explained that “Hosanna-Tabor treated Perich like a minister and held her out to the world as such long before this litigation began,” and that the “facts surrounding Perich's employment in areligious school with a sectarian mission” supported theChurch's characterization. 582 F. Supp. 2d, at 891–892. In light of that determination, the court concluded that it could “inquire no further into her claims of retaliation.” Id., at 892.
The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated and
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§12203(a), appears in a different subchapter—subchapter IV. The
EEOC and Perich contend, and Hosanna-Tabor does not dispute, that
these defenses therefore do not apply to retaliation claims.
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remanded, directing the District Court to proceed to the merits of Perich's retaliation claims. The Court of Appeals recognized the existence of a ministerial exception barring certain employment discrimination claims against religious institutions—an exception “rooted in the First Amendment's guarantees of religious freedom.” 597 F. 3d 769, 777 (2010). The court concluded, however, that Perich did not qualify as a “minister” under the exception, noting in particular that her duties as a called teacher were identical to her duties as a lay teacher. Id., at 778–
781. Judge White concurred. She viewed the questionwhether Perich qualified as a minister to be closer thandid the majority, but agreed that the “fact that the dutiesof the contract teachers are the same as the duties of the called teachers is telling.” Id., at 782, 784.
We granted certiorari. 563 U. S. ___ (2011).
II The First Amendment provides, in part, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” We have said that these two Clauses “often exert conflicting pressures,” Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. 709, 719 (2005), and that there can be “internal tension . . . between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause,” Tilton v. Richardson, 403 U. S. 672, 677 (1971) (plurality opinion).Not so here. Both Religion Clauses bar the government from interfering with the decision of a religious group to fire one of its ministers.
A Controversy between church and state over religious offices is hardly new. In 1215, the issue was addressed in the very first clause of Magna Carta. There, King Johnagreed that “the English church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished and its liberties unimpaired.”
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The King in particular accepted the “freedom of elections,”a right “thought to be of the greatest necessity and importance to the English church.” J. Holt, Magna CartaApp. IV, p. 317, cl. 1 (1965).
That freedom in many cases may have been more theoretical than real. See, e.g., W. Warren, Henry II 312(1973) (recounting the writ sent by Henry II to the electorsof a bishopric in Winchester, stating: “I order you to hold a free election, but forbid you to elect anyone but Richard my clerk”). In any event, it did not survive the reign ofHenry VIII, even in theory. The Act of Supremacy of 1534, 26 Hen. 8, ch. 1, made the English monarch the supreme head of the Church, and the Act in Restraint of Annates, 25 Hen. 8, ch. 20, passed that same year, gave him the authority to appoint the Church's high officials. See G. Elton, The Tudor Constitution: Documents and Commentary 331–332 (1960). Various Acts of Uniformity, enacted subsequently, tightened further the government's grip onthe exercise of religion. See, e.g., Act of Uniformity, 1559,1 Eliz., ch. 2; Act of Uniformity, 1549, 2 & 3 Edw. 6, ch. 1. The Uniformity Act of 1662, for instance, limited service as a minister to those who formally assented to prescribed tenets and pledged to follow the mode of worship set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. Any minister who refusedto make that pledge was “deprived of all his Spiritual Promotions.” Act of Uniformity, 1662, 14 Car. 2, ch. 4.
Seeking to escape the control of the national church, thePuritans fled to New England, where they hoped to elect their own ministers and establish their own modes of worship. See T. Curry, The First Freedoms: Church andState in America to the Passage of the First Amendment 3 (1986); McConnell, The Origins and Historical Understanding of Free Exercise of Religion, 103 Harv. L. Rev.1409, 1422 (1990). William Penn, the Quaker proprietorof what would eventually become Pennsylvania and Delaware, also sought independence from the Church of Eng8
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land. The charter creating the province of Pennsylvaniacontained no clause establishing a religion. See S. Cobb, The Rise of Religious Liberty in America 440–441 (1970).
Colonists in the South, in contrast, brought the Churchof England with them. But even they sometimes chafed at the control exercised by the Crown and its representativesover religious offices. In Virginia, for example, the law vested the governor with the power to induct ministers presented to him by parish vestries, 2 Hening's Statutesat Large 46 (1642), but the vestries often refused to makesuch presentations and instead chose ministers on their own. See H. Eckenrode, Separation of Church and Statein Virginia 13–19 (1910). Controversies over the selection of ministers also arose in other Colonies with Anglican establishments, including North Carolina. See C. Antieau, A. Downey, & E. Roberts, Freedom from Federal Establishment: Formation and Early History of the First Amendment Religion Clauses 10–11 (1964). There, the royal governor insisted that the right of presentation laywith the Bishop of London, but the colonial assemblyenacted laws placing that right in the vestries. Authorities in England intervened, repealing those laws as inconsistent with the rights of the Crown. See id., at 11; Weeks, Church and State in North Carolina, Johns Hopkins U. Studies in Hist. & Pol. Sci., 11th Ser., Nos. 5–6, pp. 29–36 (1893).
It was against this background that the First Amendment was adopted. Familiar with life under the established Church of England, the founding generation sought to foreclose the possibility of a national church. See 1 Annals of Cong. 730–731 (1789) (noting that the Establishment Clause addressed the fear that “one sect might obtain a pre-eminence, or two combine together, and establish a religion to which they would compel others to conform” (remarks of J. Madison)). By forbidding the“establishment of religion” and guaranteeing the “free
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exercise thereof,” the Religion Clauses ensured that thenew Federal Government—unlike the English Crown—would have no role in filling ecclesiastical offices. The Establishment Clause prevents the Government fromappointing ministers, and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own.
This understanding of the Religion Clauses was reflected in two events involving James Madison, “‘the leadingarchitect of the religion clauses of the First Amendment.'” Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, 563 U. S. ___, ___ (2011) (slip op., at 13) (quoting Flast v. Cohen, 392 U. S. 83, 103 (1968)). The first occurred in 1806, when John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, solicited the Executive's opinion on who should be appointed to direct the affairs of the CatholicChurch in the territory newly acquired by the LouisianaPurchase. After consulting with President Jefferson, then-Secretary of State Madison responded that the selection of church “functionaries” was an “entirely ecclesiastical” matter left to the Church's own judgment. Letter from James Madison to Bishop Carroll (Nov. 20, 1806), reprinted in 20 Records of the American Catholic Historical Society 63 (1909). The “scrupulous policy of the Constitutionin guarding against a political interference with religious affairs,” Madison explained, prevented the Governmentfrom rendering an opinion on the “selection of ecclesiastical individuals.” Id., at 63–64.
The second episode occurred in 1811, when Madison wasPresident. Congress had passed a bill incorporating theProtestant Episcopal Church in the town of Alexandria inwhat was then the District of Columbia. Madison vetoed the bill, on the ground that it “exceeds the rightful authority to which Governments are limited, by the essentialdistinction between civil and religious functions, andviolates, in particular, the article of the Constitution of the
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United States, which declares, that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment.'” 22 Annals of Cong. 982–983 (1811). Madison explained:
“The bill enacts into, and establishes by law, sundry rules and proceedings relative purely to the organization and polity of the church incorporated, and comprehending even the election and removal of the Minister of the same; so that no change could be madetherein by the particular society, or by the general church of which it is a member, and whose authority it recognises.” Id., at 983 (emphasis added).
B Given this understanding of the Religion Clauses—and the absence of government employment regulation generally—it was some time before questions about government interference with a church's ability to select its own ministers came before the courts. This Court touched upon theissue indirectly, however, in the context of disputes over church property. Our decisions in that area confirm that it is impermissible for the government to contradict a church's determination of who can act as its ministers. In Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. 679 (1872), the Court considered a dispute between antislavery and proslavery factions over who controlled the property of the WalnutStreet Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church had recognized the antislavery faction, and this Court—applyingnot the Constitution but a “broad and sound view of the relations of church and state under our system of laws”—declined to question that determination. Id., at 727. We explained that “whenever the questions of discipline, or of faith, or ecclesiastical rule, custom, or law have been decided by the highest of [the] church judicatories to whichthe matter has been carried, the legal tribunals mustaccept such decisions as final, and as binding on them.”
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Ibid. As we would put it later, our opinion in Watson “radiates . . . a spirit of freedom for religious organizations, an independence from secular control or manipulation—in short, power to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.” Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church in North America, 344 U. S. 94, 116 (1952).
Confronting the issue under the Constitution for thefirst time in Kedroff, the Court recognized that the“[f]reedom to select the clergy, where no improper methods of choice are proven,” is “part of the free exercise of religion” protected by the First Amendment against government interference. Ibid. At issue in Kedroff was the rightto use a Russian Orthodox cathedral in New York City. The Russian Orthodox churches in North America had split from the Supreme Church Authority in Moscow, out of concern that the Authority had become a tool of the Soviet Government. The North American churches claimed that the right to use the cathedral belonged to anarchbishop elected by them; the Supreme Church Authority claimed that it belonged instead to an archbishop appointed by the patriarch in Moscow. New York's highest court ruled in favor of the North American churches, based on a state law requiring every Russian Orthodoxchurch in New York to recognize the determination of thegoverning body of the North American churches as authoritative. Id., at 96–97, 99, n. 3, 107, n. 10.
This Court reversed, concluding that the New York law violated the First Amendment. Id., at 107. We explained that the controversy over the right to use the cathedral was “strictly a matter of ecclesiastical government, thepower of the Supreme Church Authority of the Russian Orthodox Church to appoint the ruling hierarch of thearchdiocese of North America.” Id., at 115. By “pass[ing]the control of matters strictly ecclesiastical from one
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church authority to another,” the New York law intrudedthe “power of the state into the forbidden area of reli- gious freedom contrary to the principles of the First Amendment.” Id., at 119. Accordingly, we declared the law unconstitutional because it “directly prohibit[ed] the free exercise of an ecclesiastical right, the Church's choice of its hierarchy.” Ibid.
This Court reaffirmed these First Amendment principles in Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for United States and Canada v. Milivojevich, 426 U. S. 696 (1976), a case involving a dispute over control of the American-CanadianDiocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, including its property and assets. The Church had removed DionisijeMilivojevich as bishop of the American-Canadian Diocese because of his defiance of the church hierarchy. Followinghis removal, Dionisije brought a civil action in state courtchallenging the Church's decision, and the Illinois Supreme Court “purported in effect to reinstate Dionisije as Diocesan Bishop,” on the ground that the proceedings resulting in his removal failed to comply with church lawsand regulations. Id., at 708.
Reversing that judgment, this Court explained that theFirst Amendment “permit[s] hierarchical religious organizations to establish their own rules and regulations forinternal discipline and government, and to create tribunals for adjudicating disputes over these matters.” Id., at
724. When ecclesiastical tribunals decide such disputes,we further explained, “the Constitution requires that civilcourts accept their decisions as binding upon them.” Id., at 725. We thus held that by inquiring into whether the Church had followed its own procedures, the State Supreme Court had “unconstitutionally undertaken the resolution of quintessentially religious controversies whose resolution the First Amendment commits exclusively to the highest ecclesiastical tribunals” of the Church. Id., at 720.
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C Until today, we have not had occasion to consider whether this freedom of a religious organization to select its ministers is implicated by a suit alleging discrimination inemployment. The Courts of Appeals, in contrast, have had extensive experience with this issue. Since the passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U. S. C. §2000e et seq., and other employment discrimination laws, the Courts of Appeals have uniformly recognized the existenceof a “ministerial exception,” grounded in the First Amendment, that precludes application of such legislation to claims concerning the employment relationship between a religious institution and its ministers.2 We agree that there is such a ministerial exception. The members of a religious group put their faith in the handsof their ministers. Requiring a church to accept or retainan unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to do so, intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governanceof the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs. By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free
Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right toshape its own faith and mission through its appointments. ——————
2See Natal v. Christian and Missionary Alliance, 878 F. 2d 1575, 1578 (CA1 1989); Rweyemamu v. Cote, 520 F. 3d 198, 204–209 (CA2 2008); Petruska v. Gannon Univ., 462 F. 3d 294, 303–307 (CA3 2006); EEOC v. Roman Catholic Diocese, 213 F. 3d 795, 800–801 (CA4 2000); Combs v. Central Tex. Annual Conference, 173 F. 3d 343, 345–350 (CA5 1999); Hollins v. Methodist Healthcare, Inc., 474 F. 3d 223, 225–227 (CA6 2007); Schleicher v. Salvation Army, 518 F. 3d 472, 475 (CA7 2008); Scharon v. St. Luke's Episcopal Presbyterian Hospitals, 929 F. 2d 360, 362–363 (CA8 1991); Werft v. Desert Southwest Annual Conference, 377 F. 3d 1099, 1100–1104 (CA9 2004); Bryce v. Episcopal Church, 289
F. 3d 648, 655–657 (CA10 2002); Gellington v. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc., 203 F. 3d 1299, 1301–1304 (CA11 2000); EEOC
v. Catholic Univ., 83 F. 3d 455, 460–463 (CADC 1996).
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According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions.
The EEOC and Perich acknowledge that employment discrimination laws would be unconstitutional as applied to religious groups in certain circumstances. They grant, for example, that it would violate the First Amendment for courts to apply such laws to compel the ordination ofwomen by the Catholic Church or by an Orthodox Jewishseminary. Brief for Federal Respondent 31; Brief forRespondent Perich 35–36. According to the EEOC and Perich, religious organizations could successfully defendagainst employment discrimination claims in those circumstances by invoking the constitutional right to freedomof association—a right “implicit” in the First Amendment. Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U. S. 609, 622 (1984). The EEOC and Perich thus see no need—and no basis—for a special rule for ministers grounded in theReligion Clauses themselves.
We find this position untenable. The right to freedom of association is a right enjoyed by religious and secular groups alike. It follows under the EEOC's and Perich's view that the First Amendment analysis should be thesame, whether the association in question is the LutheranChurch, a labor union, or a social club. See Perich Brief 31; Tr. of Oral Arg. 28. That result is hard to square with the text of the First Amendment itself, which gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations. We cannot accept the remarkable view that the ReligionClauses have nothing to say about a religious organization's freedom to select its own ministers.
The EEOC and Perich also contend that our decision in Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872 (1990), precludes recognition of aministerial exception. In Smith, two members of the
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Native American Church were denied state unemployment benefits after it was determined that they had been fired from their jobs for ingesting peyote, a crime under Oregonlaw. We held that this did not violate the Free Exercise Clause, even though the peyote had been ingested for sacramental purposes, because the “right of free exercise does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability on theground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct thathis religion prescribes (or proscribes).” Id., at 879 (internal quotation marks omitted).
It is true that the ADA's prohibition on retaliation, likeOregon's prohibition on peyote use, is a valid and neutral law of general applicability. But a church's selection of its ministers is unlike an individual's ingestion of peyote. Smith involved government regulation of only outward physical acts. The present case, in contrast, concernsgovernment interference with an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself. See id., at 877 (distinguishing the government's regulation of“physical acts” from its “lend[ing] its power to one or the other side in controversies over religious authority or dogma”). The contention that Smith forecloses recognitionof a ministerial exception rooted in the Religion Clauses has no merit.
III Having concluded that there is a ministerial exceptiongrounded in the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, we consider whether the exception applies in this case. We hold that it does. Every Court of Appeals to have considered the question has concluded that the ministerial exception is not limitedto the head of a religious congregation, and we agree. We are reluctant, however, to adopt a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister. It is enough
16 HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL v. EEOC Opinion of the Court
for us to conclude, in this our first case involving the ministerial exception, that the exception covers Perich, given all the circumstances of her employment.
To begin with, Hosanna-Tabor held Perich out as a minister, with a role distinct from that of most of its members. When Hosanna-Tabor extended her a call, it issued her a “diploma of vocation” according her the title “Minister of Religion, Commissioned.” App. 42. She was tasked with performing that office “according to the Word of God and the confessional standards of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as drawn from the Sacred Scriptures.” Ibid. The congregation prayed that God “bless [her] ministrations to the glory of His holy name, [and] the building ofHis church.” Id., at 43. In a supplement to the diploma,the congregation undertook to periodically review Perich's“skills of ministry” and “ministerial responsibilities,” and to provide for her “continuing education as a professionalperson in the ministry of the Gospel.” Id., at 49.
Perich's title as a minister reflected a significant degreeof religious training followed by a formal process of commissioning. To be eligible to become a commissioned minister, Perich had to complete eight college-level courses in subjects including biblical interpretation, churchdoctrine, and the ministry of the Lutheran teacher. She also had to obtain the endorsement of her local Synod district by submitting a petition that contained her academic transcripts, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and written answers to various ministryrelated questions. Finally, she had to pass an oral examination by a faculty committee at a Lutheran college. It took Perich six years to fulfill these requirements. And when she eventually did, she was commissioned as a minister only upon election by the congregation, which recognized God's call to her to teach. At that point, hercall could be rescinded only upon a supermajority vote ofthe congregation—a protection designed to allow her to
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“preach the Word of God boldly.” Brief for Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod as Amicus Curiae 15.
Perich held herself out as a minister of the Church byaccepting the formal call to religious service, according toits terms. She did so in other ways as well. For example,she claimed a special housing allowance on her taxes that was available only to employees earning their compensation “‘in the exercise of the ministry.'” App. 220 (“If youare not conducting activities ‘in the exercise of the ministry,' you cannot take advantage of the parsonage or housing allowance exclusion” (quoting Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Brochure on Whether the IRS Considers Employees as a Minister (2007)). In a form she submitted to the Synod following her termination, Perich againindicated that she regarded herself as a minister at Hosanna-Tabor, stating: “I feel that God is leading me to serve in the teaching ministry . . . . I am anxious to be inthe teaching ministry again soon.” App. 53.
Perich's job duties reflected a role in conveying theChurch's message and carrying out its mission. Hosanna-Tabor expressly charged her with “lead[ing] others towardChristian maturity” and “teach[ing] faithfully the Word of God, the Sacred Scriptures, in its truth and purity and asset forth in all the symbolical books of the EvangelicalLutheran Church.” Id., at 48. In fulfilling these responsibilities, Perich taught her students religion four days a week, and led them in prayer three times a day. Once a week, she took her students to a school-wide chapel service, and—about twice a year—she took her turn leading it, choosing the liturgy, selecting the hymns, and delivering a short message based on verses from the Bible. During her last year of teaching, Perich also led her fourthgraders in a brief devotional exercise each morning. As a source of religious instruction, Perich performed an important role in transmitting the Lutheran faith to the nextgeneration.
18 HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL v. EEOC Opinion of the Court
In light of these considerations—the formal title givenPerich by the Church, the substance reflected in that title, her own use of that title, and the important religiousfunctions she performed for the Church—we concludethat Perich was a minister covered by the ministerial exception.
In reaching a contrary conclusion, the Court of Appealscommitted three errors. First, the Sixth Circuit failed to see any relevance in the fact that Perich was a commissioned minister. Although such a title, by itself, does not automatically ensure coverage, the fact that an employeehas been ordained or commissioned as a minister is surely relevant, as is the fact that significant religious training and a recognized religious mission underlie the description of the employee's position. It was wrong for the Court of Appeals—and Perich, who has adopted the court's view,see Perich Brief 45—to say that an employee's title does not matter.
Second, the Sixth Circuit gave too much weight to thefact that lay teachers at the school performed the samereligious duties as Perich. We express no view on whethersomeone with Perich's duties would be covered by the ministerial exception in the absence of the other considerations we have discussed. But though relevant, it cannot be dispositive that others not formally recognized as ministers by the church perform the same functions—particularly when, as here, they did so only because commissioned ministers were unavailable.
Third, the Sixth Circuit placed too much emphasis on Perich's performance of secular duties. It is true that her religious duties consumed only 45 minutes of each workday, and that the rest of her day was devoted to teachingsecular subjects. The EEOC regards that as conclusive,contending that any ministerial exception “should belimited to those employees who perform exclusively religious functions.” Brief for Federal Respondent 51. We
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cannot accept that view. Indeed, we are unsure whether any such employees exist. The heads of congregations themselves often have a mix of duties, including secularones such as helping to manage the congregation's finances, supervising purely secular personnel, and overseeing the upkeep of facilities.
Although the Sixth Circuit did not adopt the extremeposition pressed here by the EEOC, it did regard the relative amount of time Perich spent performing religiousfunctions as largely determinative. The issue before us, however, is not one that can be resolved by a stopwatch. The amount of time an employee spends on particular activities is relevant in assessing that employee's status,but that factor cannot be considered in isolation, without regard to the nature of the religious functions performedand the other considerations discussed above.
Because Perich was a minister within the meaning of the exception, the First Amendment requires dismissal of this employment discrimination suit against her religiousemployer. The EEOC and Perich originally sought anorder reinstating Perich to her former position as a called teacher. By requiring the Church to accept a minister itdid not want, such an order would have plainly violated the Church's freedom under the Religion Clauses to selectits own ministers.
Perich no longer seeks reinstatement, having abandoned that relief before this Court. See Perich Brief 58. But that is immaterial. Perich continues to seek frontpay in lieu ofreinstatement, backpay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney's fees. An award of such relief would operate as a penalty on the Church for terminating anunwanted minister, and would be no less prohibited by the First Amendment than an order overturning the termination. Such relief would depend on a determination thatHosanna-Tabor was wrong to have relieved Perich of her position, and it is precisely such a ruling that is barred by
20 HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL v. EEOC Opinion of the Court
the ministerial exception.3
The EEOC and Perich suggest that Hosanna-Tabor'sasserted religious reason for firing Perich—that she violated the Synod's commitment to internal dispute resolution—was pretextual. That suggestion misses the point of the ministerial exception. The purpose of the exception is not to safeguard a church's decision to fire a minister only when it is made for a religious reason. The exceptioninstead ensures that the authority to select and controlwho will minister to the faithful—a matter “strictly ecclesiastical,” Kedroff, 344 U. S., at 119—is the church's alone.4
IV
The EEOC and Perich foresee a parade of horribles that will follow our recognition of a ministerial exception toemployment discrimination suits. According to the EEOCand Perich, such an exception could protect religiousorganizations from liability for retaliating against employ——————
3Perich does not dispute that if the ministerial exception bars herretaliation claim under the ADA, it also bars her retaliation claim under Michigan law.
4A conflict has arisen in the Courts of Appeals over whether the ministerial exception is a jurisdictional bar or a defense on the merits. Compare Hollins, 474 F. 3d, at 225 (treating the exception as jurisdictional); and Tomic v. Catholic Diocese of Peoria, 442 F. 3d 1036, 1038– 1039 (CA7 2006) (same), with Petruska, 462 F. 3d, at 302 (treating the exception as an affirmative defense); Bryce, 289 F. 3d, at 654 (same); Bollard v. California Province of Soc. of Jesus, 196 F. 3d 940, 951 (CA9 1999) (same); and Natal, 878 F. 2d, at 1576 (same). We conclude that the exception operates as an affirmative defense to an otherwise cognizable claim, not a jurisdictional bar. That is because the issue presented by the exception is “whether the allegations the plaintiffmakes entitle him to relief,” not whether the court has “power to hear[the] case.” Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U. S. ___, ___ (2010) (slip op., at 4–5) (internal quotation marks omitted). District courts have power to consider ADA claims in cases of this sort, and todecide whether the claim can proceed or is instead barred by the ministerial exception.
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Opinion of the Court
ees for reporting criminal misconduct or for testifyingbefore a grand jury or in a criminal trial. What is more, the EEOC contends, the logic of the exception would confer on religious employers “unfettered discretion” to violate employment laws by, for example, hiring children oraliens not authorized to work in the United States. Brief for Federal Respondent 29.
Hosanna-Tabor responds that the ministerial exceptionwould not in any way bar criminal prosecutions for interfering with law enforcement investigations or other proceedings. Nor, according to the Church, would theexception bar government enforcement of general laws restricting eligibility for employment, because the exception applies only to suits by or on behalf of ministers themselves. Hosanna-Tabor also notes that the ministerial exception has been around in the lower courts for 40 years, see McClure v. Salvation Army, 460 F. 2d 553, 558 (CA5 1972), and has not given rise to the dire consequences predicted by the EEOC and Perich.
The case before us is an employment discrimination suitbrought on behalf of a minister, challenging her church's decision to fire her. Today we hold only that the ministerial exception bars such a suit. We express no view onwhether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct by their religious employers. There will be time enough to address the applicability of the exceptionto other circumstances if and when they arise.
* * * The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important.But so too is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission. When a minister who has been fired sues her church alleging that her termination was dis22
HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL v. EEOC Opinion of the Court
criminatory, the First Amendment has struck the balance for us. The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.
It is so ordered.
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THOMAS, J., concurring
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 10–553
HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
CHURCH AND SCHOOL, PETITIONER v.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
COMMISSION ET AL.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
[January 11, 2012]
JUSTICE THOMAS, concurring.
I join the Court's opinion. I write separately to notethat, in my view, the Religion Clauses require civil courtsto apply the ministerial exception and to defer to a religious organization's good-faith understanding of whoqualifies as its minister. As the Court explains, the Religion Clauses guarantee religious organizations autonomy in matters of internal governance, including the selectionof those who will minister the faith. A religious organization's right to choose its ministers would be hollow, however, if secular courts could second-guess the organization's sincere determination that a given employee is a“minister” under the organization's theological tenets. Our country's religious landscape includes organizationswith different leadership structures and doctrines thatinfluence their conceptions of ministerial status. The question whether an employee is a minister is itself religious in nature, and the answer will vary widely. Judicial attempts to fashion a civil definition of “minister” througha bright-line test or multi-factor analysis risk disadvantaging those religious groups whose beliefs, practices, and membership are outside of the “mainstream” or unpalatable to some. Moreover, uncertainty about wheth2
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AND SCHOOL v. EEOC
THOMAS, J., concurring
er its ministerial designation will be rejected, and a corresponding fear of liability, may cause a religious group to conform its beliefs and practices regarding “ministers” tothe prevailing secular understanding. See Corporation of Presiding Bishop of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. Amos, 483 U. S. 327, 336 (1987) (“[I]t is a significant burden on a religious organization to require it, on pain of substantial liability, to predict which of its activities a secular court will consider religious. The line is hardly a bright one, and an organization might understandably be concerned that a judge would not understand its religious tenets and sense of mission. Fear of potentialliability might affect the way an organization carried out what it understood to be its religious mission” (footnoteomitted)). These are certainly dangers that the FirstAmendment was designed to guard against.
The Court thoroughly sets forth the facts that lead to itsconclusion that Cheryl Perich was one of Hosanna-Tabor'sministers, and I agree that these facts amply demonstrate Perich's ministerial role. But the evidence demonstrates that Hosanna-Tabor sincerely considered Perich a minister. That would be sufficient for me to conclude that Perich's suit is properly barred by the ministerial exception.
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ALITO, J., concurring
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 10–553
HOSANNA-TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
CHURCH AND SCHOOL, PETITIONER v.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
COMMISSION ET AL.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
[January 11, 2012]
JUSTICE ALITO, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN joins,concurring.
I join the Court's opinion, but I write separately toclarify my understanding of the significance of formal ordination and designation as a “minister” in determiningwhether an “employee”1 of a religious group falls withinthe so-called “ministerial” exception. The term “minister” is commonly used by many Protestant denominations torefer to members of their clergy, but the term is rarely if ever used in this way by Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists.2 In addition, the concept of ordination as understood by most Christian churches and by Judaism
—————— 1It is unconventional to refer to many persons who clearly fall within the “ministerial” exception, such as Protestant ministers, Catholicpriests, and Jewish rabbis, as “employees,” but I use the term in the sense in which it is used in the antidiscrimination laws that are often implicated in cases involving the exception. See, e.g., 42 U. S. C. §2000e(f) (Title VII); §12111(4) (ADA); 29 U. S. C. §630(f) (ADEA); §206(e) (Equal Pay Act and Fair Labor Standards Act). 2See 9 Oxford English Dictionary 818 (2d ed. 1989) (def. 4(b)) (notingthe term “minister” used in various phrases “applied as general designations for a person officially charged with spiritual functions in theChristian Church”); 9 Encyclopedia of Religion 6044–6045 (2d ed. 2005). See also, e.g., 9 New Catholic Encyclopedia 870 (1967).
2
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AND SCHOOL v. EEOC
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has no clear counterpart in some Christian denominations and some other religions. Because virtually every religionin the world is represented in the population of the UnitedStates, it would be a mistake if the term “minister” or the concept of ordination were viewed as central to the important issue of religious autonomy that is presented incases like this one. Instead, courts should focus on the function performed by persons who work for religious bodies.
The First Amendment protects the freedom of religious groups to engage in certain key religious activities, including the conducting of worship services and other religiousceremonies and rituals, as well as the critical process of communicating the faith. Accordingly, religious groupsmust be free to choose the personnel who are essential tothe performance of these functions.
The “ministerial” exception should be tailored to this purpose. It should apply to any “employee” who leads a religious organization, conducts worship services or important religious ceremonies or rituals, or serves as a messenger or teacher of its faith. If a religious group believes that the ability of such an employee to perform these key functions has been compromised, then the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom protects the group's right to remove the employee from his or her position.
I Throughout our Nation's history, religious bodies have been the preeminent example of private associations that have “act[ed] as critical buffers between the individual and the power of the State.” Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U. S. 609, 619 (1984). In a case like the one now before us—where the goal of the civil law in question, the elimination of discrimination against persons with disabilities, is so worthy—it is easy to forget that the autonomy
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of religious groups, both here in the United States and abroad, has often served as a shield against oppressive civil laws. To safeguard this crucial autonomy, we havelong recognized that the Religion Clauses protect a privatesphere within which religious bodies are free to governthemselves in accordance with their own beliefs. The Constitution guarantees religious bodies “independence from secular control or manipulation—in short, power todecide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.” Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church in North America, 344 U. S. 94, 116 (1952).
Religious autonomy means that religious authorities must be free to determine who is qualified to serve inpositions of substantial religious importance. Different religions will have different views on exactly what qualifies as an important religious position, but it is nonetheless possible to identify a general category of “employees”whose functions are essential to the independence of practically all religious groups. These include those who serve in positions of leadership, those who perform important functions in worship services and in the performance ofreligious ceremonies and rituals, and those who are entrusted with teaching and conveying the tenets of the faithto the next generation.
Applying the protection of the First Amendment to roles of religious leadership, worship, ritual, and expressionfocuses on the objective functions that are important forthe autonomy of any religious group, regardless of itsbeliefs. As we have recognized in a similar context,“[f]orcing a group to accept certain members may impair [its ability] to express those views, and only those views, that it intends to express.” Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U. S. 640, 648 (2000). That principle applies withspecial force with respect to religious groups, whose very
4
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AND SCHOOL v. EEOC
ALITO, J., concurring
existence is dedicated to the collective expression andpropagation of shared religious ideals. See Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872, 882 (1990) (noting that the constitutional interest in freedom of association may be “reinforced by Free Exercise Clause concerns”). As the Court notes, the First Amendment “gives special solicitude to the rights of religiousorganizations,” ante, at 14, but our expressive-associationcases are nevertheless useful in pointing out what thoseessential rights are. Religious groups are the archetypeof associations formed for expressive purposes, and their fundamental rights surely include the freedom to choose who is qualified to serve as a voice for their faith.
When it comes to the expression and inculcation of religious doctrine, there can be no doubt that the messenger matters. Religious teachings cover the gamut frommoral conduct to metaphysical truth, and both the contentand credibility of a religion's message depend vitally on the character and conduct of its teachers. A religion cannot depend on someone to be an effective advocate for its religious vision if that person's conduct fails to live up tothe religious precepts that he or she espouses. For this reason, a religious body's right to self-governance must include the ability to select, and to be selective about,those who will serve as the very “embodiment of its message” and “its voice to the faithful.” Petruska v. Gannon Univ., 462 F. 3d 294, 306 (CA3 2006). A religious body'scontrol over such “employees” is an essential component ofits freedom to speak in its own voice, both to its own members and to the outside world.
The connection between church governance and the freedissemination of religious doctrine has deep roots in ourlegal tradition:
“The right to organize voluntary religious associations to assist in the expression and dissemination of any
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religious doctrine, and to create tribunals for the decision of controverted questions of faith within the association, and for the ecclesiastical government of all the individual members,
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