The Episcopal Church v. The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth
Petition for certiorari denied on November 3, 2014.
Issue
(1) Whether the First Amendment or Jones v. Wolf requires courts to enforce express trusts recited in general-church governing documents (as some jurisdictions hold), or whether such a trust is enforceable only when it would otherwise comply with state law (as others hold); (2) whether retroactive application of the neutral-principles approach infringes free-exercise rights; and (3) whether the neutral-principles approach endorsed in Jones remains a constitutionally viable means of resolving church-property disputes, especially in light of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC.
Recommended Citation: The Episcopal Church v. The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, SCOTUSblog, https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/the-episcopal-church-v-the-episcopal-diocese-of-fort-worth/