The US Supreme Court yesterday declined to take up an appeal by Gordon College, which sought to overturn a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court finding against the Wenham, Mass.-based Christian school. At issue was whether the school had the right to discriminate against an instructor over her support for the LGBTQ community.
Reports Courthouse News:
Margaret DeWeese-Boyd sued Gordon College after it denied the tenured associate professor of social work a promotion to full professor in 2016. Despite the Faculty Senate unanimously recommending her for the gig, the college said its decision was based on her lack of scholarly work.
DeWeese-Boyd, however, argued in state court that the denial was based on her advocacy for the LGBTQ community, with goes against the school’s religious beliefs.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided with DeWeese-Boyd, finding the so-called ministerial exception — a legal doctrine that protects religious institutions from most discrimination claims — did not apply to her.
Gordon College appealed to the Supreme Court, but the justices decided Monday not to take up the case this term.
While the denial may be good news for the professor for now, a statement written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito respecting the denial suggests it won’t be the last time the issue comes before the nation’s highest court.
“I have doubts about the [Massachusetts] state court’s understanding of religious education and, accordingly, its application of the ministerial exception,” the George W. Bush appointee wrote about the core question on appeal: whether a school can extend its protection of religious teachings to subjects traditionally outside the faith-based sphere.
Read the complete Courthouse News Service story here.
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