St. James School v. Biel
Consolidated with:
Docket No. | Op. Below | Argument | Opinion | Vote | Author | Term |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19-348 | 9th Cir. | May 11, 2020 | Jul 8, 2020 | 7-2 | Alito | OT 2019 |
Holding: The "ministerial exception" under the religion clauses of the First Amendment forecloses the adjudication of employment-discrimination claims of Catholic school teachers in these cases.
Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 7-2, in an opinion by Justice Alito on July 8, 2020. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice Gorsuch joined. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ginsburg joined.
SCOTUSblog Coverage
- Live blog of opinions (Update: Completed) (Kalvis Golde, July 8, 2020)
- Opinion analysis: Court rules that Catholic elementary school teachers are ministers, cannot sue for employment discrimination (Amy Howe, July 8, 2020)
- Educational seminar: Debrief of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (Katie Bart, May 13, 2020)
- Argument analysis: Justices divided in debate over ministerial exception (Amy Howe, May 11, 2020)
- Educational seminar: Preview of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (Katie Bart, May 6, 2020)
- Argument preview: Justices to consider what makes a minister a minister (Corrected) (Amy Howe, April 30, 2020)
- Court sets cases for May telephone arguments, will make live audio available (Amy Howe, April 13, 2020)
- Justices postpone March argument session (Amy Howe, March 16, 2020)
- Justices issue March argument calendar (Amy Howe, January 31, 2020)
- Court fills out spring calendar with new grants (Amy Howe, December 18, 2019)
Date | Proceedings and Orders |
---|---|
09/16/2019 | Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 17, 2019) |
09/27/2019 | Brief amici curiae of Church of God in Christ, Inc. and Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America filed. VIDED |
10/11/2019 | Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 17, 2019 to November 13, 2019, submitted to The Clerk. |
10/16/2019 | Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 13, 2019. |
10/16/2019 | Brief amici curiae of Professors Douglas Laycock, et al. filed. |
10/17/2019 | Brief amici curiae of General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, et al. filed. |
10/17/2019 | Brief amicus curiae of Asma T. Uddin filed. |
10/17/2019 | Brief amicus curiae of Stephen Wise Temple filed. |
11/13/2019 | Brief of respondent Darryl Biel in opposition filed. |
11/21/2019 | Waiver of 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition under Rule 15.5 filed. |
11/22/2019 | Reply of petitioner St. James School filed. |
11/26/2019 | DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/13/2019. |
12/18/2019 | Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-267 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED. |
12/18/2019 | Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 19-267. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-267. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.” |
01/31/2020 | SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. VIDED |
02/19/2020 | CIRCULATED |
02/19/2020 | Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit. |
03/04/2020 | The record from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit is electronic and located on Pacer. |
03/16/2020 | ORAL ARGUMENT POSTPONED. VIDED. |
04/13/2020 | Argument to be rescheduled for May 2020. |
04/15/2020 | RESCHEDULED FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, May 11, 2020. VIDED. |
05/11/2020 | Argued. For petitioners: Eric C. Rassbach, Washington, D. C.; and Morgan L. Ratner, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.). For respondents: Jeffrey L. Fisher, Menlo Park, Cal. VIDED. |
07/08/2020 | Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas, Breyer, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Gorsuch, J., joined. Sotomayor, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, J., joined. VIDED. |
08/10/2020 | JUDGMENT ISSUED. |