U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett indicated in her confirmation hearing that she would fit in comfortably with the conservative majority on the high court that has ruled in recent years for an expansive view of religious liberty. During her last day of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Barrett spoke in generally approving terms of two decisions by the Supreme Court this past spring that were welcomed by religious liberty advocates on the right. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , the court held that the First Amendment’s religion clauses foreclose federal courts from hearing employment-discrimination claims from teachers at religious schools who have at least some role in teaching the faith. The doctrine is known as the ministerial exception. Barrett noted that she had joined a 2018 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, in Chicago, that the ministerial exception applied to bar a disability-discrimination lawsuit filed by a Hebrew-language teacher at a Jewish day school. The appeals court in Grussgott v. Milwaukee Jewish Day School had held that because Hebrew teachers at the school were expected to follow a unified Hebrew and Jewish studies curriculum and to […]
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