Episcopal Church v. Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth

Petition for certiorari denied on February 22, 2021

Linked with:

• All Saints’ Episcopal Church (Fort Worth) v. Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth

Issue: (1) Whether the First Amendment requires courts to enforce express trusts in church governing documents (as some jurisdictions hold, in line with Jones v. Wolf's first safeguard), or whether state law may render such trusts unenforceable (as others hold); (2) whether the First Amendment requires courts to defer to churches on questions of polity (as some jurisdictions hold, in line with Jones" second safeguard), or whether courts may apply state law to determine the structure of a church (as others hold); and (3) whether the neutral-principles approach may constitutionally be applied " either prospectively or retroactively " to resolve church-property disputes.