UNITED STATES
NRP
[with audio]
[Supreme Court decision via BishopAccountability.org]
January 11, 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court for the first time has declared that the Constitution exempts ministers from the nation’s anti-discrimination laws. Wednesday’s decision was unanimous and groundbreaking — but it left unresolved some of the thorniest questions in determining who is a minister and who is not.
The court’s ruling came in the case of Cheryl Perich, a teacher at the Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran Church and School in Michigan. In 2004, Perich took leave when she was diagnosed with narcolepsy. But when her doctor certified her to return to work, the school asked her to resign, so she threatened to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Their response was to fire me,” Perich said. “I can’t fathom how the Constitution would be interpreted in such a way as to deny me my civil rights as an elementary school teacher.”
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