Although they have generated controversy in some progressive precincts, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions last week in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania were quite straightforward. Both cases were decided 7-2 on the same day, with the five conservative members of the Court joined by Justices Breyer and Kagan. In Our Lady of Guadalupe , Justice Alito’s opinion held that Catholic parochial schools were protected by the First Amendment’s “ministerial exception” from employment disputes involving teachers. Little Sisters of the Poor posed an issue of administrative law in this latest, post- Hobby Lobby round of litigation over the contraceptive mandate imposed under the Affordable Care Act. Justice Thomas’s opinion held that a federal agency acted lawfully when it issued regulations exempting categories of religious employers from the requirement that contraception be included in employer-provided health plans. Both cases corrected extravagant circuit court decisions. In the ministerial exception case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that because the Catholic school teachers did not have a clerical title or extensive theological training, they did not perform an important religious function, even though the teachers led students in prayer, […]
