Church freedom: Government can’t dictate hiring decisions

Although the ruling was narrow, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed Wednesday that religious employers can keep the government out of their hiring and firing decisions.

In the case of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, former teacher Cheryl Perich argued that a Lutheran school in Michigan discriminated against her under the Americans With Disabilities Act by refusing to reinstate her in her job after she took leave for narcolepsy.

But the high court overturned an earlier decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, finding that as a “called” teacher, Ms. Perich was properly classified as a “minister,” meaning she falls within the “ministerial exemption” from many employment laws.

“Because Perich was a minister within the meaning of the exception, the First Amendment requires dismissal of this employment discrimination suit against her religious employer,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts.

Although the ruling does not bar other types of lawsuits alleging breach of contract or “tortious conduct” by religious employers, “The exception … ensures that the authority to select and control who will minister to the faithful is the church’s alone,” Justice Roberts wrote for the court.

Good.

In fact, absent systematic and intentional discrimination, the rights of free association and free speech should bar a lot more of the arcana now justified under the runaway search for government-imposed equality — assertions that advertising a home or apartment with a “lovely view” somehow offends or discriminates against the blind, for instance.

But the prospect of the government telling religious organizations who they may or must hire as teachers, priests and ministers is so far beyond the pale that it well justified this unanimous rebuff of government overreach.