SOUTHLAKE (TX)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
November 15, 2025
By Mark A. Kellner
Dallas County Judge Emily Tobolowsky has rejected a plea by disgraced pastor Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, to have abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire’s lawsuit dismissed on First Amendment grounds.
The judge, who has won her last three four-year-term elections without any opposition, provided no reason for rejecting arguments made by Morris and his wife Deborah. She also denied motions to dismiss the same lawsuit from church elders Tra Willbanks, Kenneth Fambro, Gayland Lawshe and Dane Minor.
Clemishire and her father Jerry Lee Clemishire sued Morris, his wife, Gateway Church and others in June, seeking $1 million in damages.
With the rejection of the dismissal motions, the trial is set to take place next summer, media reports indicate.
In October, Morris pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Cindy Clemishire, then aged 12, in the 1980s. He is serving a six-month jail term in Oklahoma that will be followed by 9.5 years of probation. He also will register as a sex offender and pay $270,000 in restitution.
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Morris and his wife said the Clemishire lawsuit must be dismissed, chiefly because the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine deprives the court of subject-matter jurisdiction, or authority over certain legal disputes. That doctrine comes from the First Amendment’s prohibition of government restricting the “free exercise” of religion.
According to the Morris attorney’s filing, many of the plaintiffs’ claims require the court to evaluate spiritual concepts. These include repentance, restoration, “walking in purity,” and particularly whether the Morrises received “forgiveness” from the Clemishires, which the motion frames as fundamentally religious questions.
The motion contends that determining the truth or falsity of statements about “forgiveness,” pastoral accountability, or the church-directed restoration process would force the court to “go behind the ecclesiastical curtain.” Thus, the lawsuit would improperly interfere with internal church governance, doctrine, discipline, and the management of Gateway Church’s affairs.
One of Clemishire’s attorneys, Texas State Rep. Jeff Leach, told CBS Texas the ruling was a victory for abuse survivors. The ruling, he said, is “(a) great day for justice . . . for Cindy . . . and for countless survivors and victims for whom she is blowing the doors to the Courthouse wide open.”
Along with the defamation suit, Morris is facing off against Gateway Church in court over a multimillion-dollar pension he says the church owes him. Additionally, a group of church members have sued Gateway over what they say is a fraudulent claim the church would donate 15% of tithes to global missions.
Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.