| Case
Name |
Year | Decision
of the Court | Topic
Group(s) | |
| Rector of Holy Trinity Church v. United States,143 U.S. 457 | 1892 | Refusing to apply to churches a federal statute forbidding employment contracts with aliens to work in United States. |
Ministerial Exception
Naturalization and Foreign Workers
| |
| McClure v. Salvation Army, 460 F.2d 553
(5th Cir.)
cert. denied 409 U.S. 896 | 1972 | *Fountainhead of Ministerial Exception cases. First Amendment bars ordained minister's claims for unequal pay and Title VII retaliatory discharge. Court states, "The relationship between an organized church and its ministers is its lifeblood." |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Simpson v. Wells Lamont Corp., 494 F.2d 490 (5th Cir.) | 1974 | *First Amendment bars pastor and his wife from adjudicating claims for violation of 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986 and for unlawful eviction from parsonage. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| National Labor Relations Board v. Catholic Bishop, 440 U.S. 490 | 1979 | Refused to recognize National Labor Relations Board jurisdiction over lay teachers at religious schools. |
Ministerial Exception
National Labor Relations Act
| |
| EEOC v. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
651 F.2d 277 (5th Cir.) | 1981 | *First Amendment bars EEOC from enforcing EEO-6 reporting requirement to the extent it related to seminary's faculty and certain administrative personnel. |
Church Autonomy
Discovery
Ministerial Exception
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Kaufmann v. Sheehan, 707 F.2d 355 (8th Cir.) | 1983 | *First Amendment bars priest from amending complaint to state claim for violation of archdiocesan due process and canon law. Court rejects arbitrariness exception to the Doctrine of Church Autonomy. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Hutchison v. Thomas, 789 F.2d 392
(6th Cir. 1986)
cert. denied, 479 U.S. 885 | 1986 | *First Amendment bars minister's claims for fraudulent concealment and collusive and arbitrary application of doctrinal statements to compel his retirement. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Rayburn v. Gen. Conf. of Seventh-day Adventists, 772 F.2d 1164 (4th Cir.)
cert. denied 478 U.S. 1020 (1986) | 1986 | *First Amendment bars sexual and racial discrimination claims brought by applicant for pastoral care position. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Natal v. Christian and Missionary Alliance, 878 F.2d 1575 (1st Cir.) | 1989 | *First Amendment bars ordained minister claims for breach of contract, defamation, and emotional distress. |
Church Autonomy
Church Communications
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Minker v. Baltimore Annual Conf. of United Methodist Church, 894 F.2d 1354
(D.C. Cir.) | 1990 | *First Amendment bars Methodist minister's claims for breach of contract and age discrimination. |
Church Autonomy
Church Communications
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Little v. Wuerl, 929 F.2d 944
(3d Cir.) | 1991 | *First Amendment bars consideration of Title VII claim brought against Catholic school where non-Catholic elementary teacher sued for religious discrimination when school failed to renew her contract because of her remarriage in a Protestant ceremony. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Scharon v. St. Luke's Episcopal Presbyterian Hosp., 929 F.2d 360
(8th Cir.) | 1991 | *First Amendment bars chaplain-ordained minister's claims against Episcopal-affiliated hospital for age and sex discrimination. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Lewis v. Seventh-day Adventists Lake Conf., 978 F.2d 940
(6th Cir.) | 1992 | *First Amendment bars minister and his wife from alleging breach of contract, promissory estoppel, outrageous conduct, and loss of consortium claims against religious organization. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Young v. Northern Ill. Conf. of United Methodist Church, 21 F.3d 184 (7th Cir.) | 1994 | *First Amendment bars minister's claims against church for sex and race discrimination due to failure to promote. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Yaggie v. Indiana-Kentucky Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church, 64 F.3d 664
(6th) | 1995 | *First Amendment bars pastor's defamation claim against church for defamation. |
Church Autonomy
Church Communications
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Bell v. Presbyterian Church, 126 F.3d 328
(4th Cir.) | 1997 | First Amendment barred executive director who was an ordained minister from suing a religious corporation for tortious contractual interference and interference with prospective advantage, outrageous conduct, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, wrongful termination and breach of pledge to make financial contributions. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Clapper v. Chesapeake Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, 166 F.3d 1208, (4th Cir.) | 1998 | *Dismissing age and race discrimination claim of elementary school teacher, because court found that the teacher's primary duties consist of teaching and spreading the faith and supervising and participating in worship. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Bollard v. California Province of the Society of Jesus, 196 F.3d 940
(9th Cir.) | 1999 | *First Amendment did not bar Jesuit novice from suing Jesuits for sexual harassment, where Jesuits disapproved such conduct. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Combs v. Cen. Tex. Annual Conf. of the United Methodist Church,
173 F.3d 343
(5th Cir.) | 1999 | *First Amendment bars ordained female minister's claims of sex and pregnancy discriminations. Minsterial exception survives Employment Div., Dep't of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) and City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997). |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| EEOC v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, 213 F.3d 795 (4th Cir.) | 2000 | *First Amendment bars sex discrimination and retaliation claims of lay music minister even though her replacement is not of the same denomination as the defendant church. The ministerial exception survives Employment Div., Dep't of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990). Court also opines that music is a vital means of expressing religious faith. |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Gellington v. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc., 203 F.3d 1299
(11th Cir.) | 2000 | *First Amendment barred ordained minister from suing church defendants for sex discrimination and retaliation. The ministerial exception survived Employment Div., Dep't of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990). |
Church Autonomy
Ministerial Exception
| |
| Bryce v. Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Colorado, 289 F.3d 648 (10th Cir. 2002) | 2002 | *First Amendment Doctrine of Church Autonomy bars Title VII and constitutional tort claims brought by youth minister and her partner against church entities and church officers and which arose from reduction in minister's duties and parish dialogues regarding sexual orientation. Judge need not recuse himself because he belongs to same denomination as defendants. |
Church Communications
Expressive Association
Ministerial Exception
Religious Tests for Public Office
| |
