Major Victory for Religious Institutions in U.S. Supreme Court
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution precludes any law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment’s “religion clauses” bar courts from even deciding the job bias claims of two teachers who performed “vital religious duties” at Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
One of the two schools in the case, Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Hermosa Beach, is represented by BRG&S partner Linda Miller Savitt and senior counsel John J. Manier and Stephanie B. Kantor. The school was sued by a former fifth grade teacher, Agnes Morrisey-Berru, who claimed she was terminated because of her age. The Supreme Court’s decision, published on July 8, 2020, prevents the teacher’s claims from proceeding.