Government
On January 11th, the United States Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in what many church-state scholars are calling the most important religious freedom case in decades. The case, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, highlighted the so-called “ministerial exception,” a concept that has been addressed in lower court First Amendment cases for some time. With a vote of 9-0, the court’s concerns have been stated unambiguously, and they are dramatically out of synch with the current administration and the Justice Department’s reading of the religion clauses. Since Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC will be consequential for many years, we’re going to devote more than one edition of Dialogues on Law and Justice to the substantial issues involved. This edition features a conversation between host Ken Myers and law professor Carl Esbeck from the University of Missouri School of Law. Esbeck has published widely in the area of religious liberty and church-state relations. Last year, he co-authored a paper published by the Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy entitled “Religious Freedom, Church-State Separation, & the Ministerial Exception,” which focused on the issues raised in Hosanna-Tabor. Esbeck also co-wrote an amicus brief on behalf of a number of organizations.