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St. James School v. Biel

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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

Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is counsel on an amicus brief in support of the respondent in this case.

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

DateProceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Sep 16 2019Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 17, 2019)
Sep 27 2019Brief amici curiae of Church of God in Christ, Inc. and Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America filed. VIDED
Oct 11 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 17, 2019 to November 13, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
Oct 16 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 13, 2019.
Oct 16 2019Brief amici curiae of Professors Douglas Laycock, et al. filed.
Oct 17 2019Brief amici curiae of General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, et al. filed.
Oct 17 2019Brief amicus curiae of Asma T. Uddin filed.
Oct 17 2019Brief amicus curiae of Stephen Wise Temple filed.
Nov 13 2019Brief of respondent Darryl Biel in opposition filed.
Nov 21 2019Waiver of 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition under Rule 15.5 filed.
Nov 22 2019Reply of petitioner St. James School filed.
Nov 26 2019DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/13/2019.
Dec 18 2019Petition 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.
Dec 18 2019Because 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.”
Jan 31 2020SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. VIDED
Feb 19 2020CIRCULATED
Feb 19 2020Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit.
Mar 04 2020The record from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit is electronic and located on Pacer.
Mar 16 2020ORAL ARGUMENT POSTPONED. VIDED.
Apr 13 2020Argument to be rescheduled for May 2020.
Apr 15 2020RESCHEDULED FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, May 11, 2020. VIDED.
May 11 2020Argued. 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.
Jul 08 2020Judgment 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.
Aug 10 2020JUDGMENT ISSUED.