The Ninth Circuit seems to be accepting the Supreme Court’s instruction that the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment confer on religious institutions a robust “ministerial exception” to employment-discrimination laws.
Five years ago (in its consolidated ruling in Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru), the Supreme Court reversed two Ninth Circuit panel rulings that allowed elementary school teachers at Catholic schools to pursue claims that they had been unlawfully discriminated against. On Wednesday, a liberal Ninth Circuit panel abided by the Court’s guidance and ruled (in McMahon v. World Vision Inc.) that the ministerial exception barred plaintiff Aubry McMahon’s employment-discrimination claims.
McMahon applied for a job as a customer-service representative with World Vision, a Christian organization with the avowed mission “to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.” When McMahon applied for the job, she attested that she was willing to comply with World Mission’s standards of conduct, which (among other things) prohibit sexual conduct other than in marriage between a man and a woman. After World Vision offered her a job, McMahon revealed that she was in a same-sex relationship. World Vision rescinded the job offer. McMahon then sued, alleging that she had been discriminated against on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and marital status. The district court awarded summary judgment to McMahon.
In reversing the district court, the panel concluded that customer-service representatives “perform key religious functions central to World Vision’s mission”: they “are responsible for effectively communicating World Vision’s worldwide ministries and projects to donors and supporters,” and they “engage with donors in prayer and give them the opportunity to join World Vision’s religious mission through financial contributions.” “Because each of these ‘vital religious duties’ lies at the core of World Vision’s religious mission,” the ministerial exception applies and bars McMahon’s claims.
Given how recalcitrant the Ninth Circuit has often been, it’s worth noting that the three members of the panel were all appointed by Democratic presidents—Ronald Gould and Richard Tallman by Clinton, and Morgan Christen by Obama. Tallman, who wrote the opinion, was a Republican when Clinton appointed him, so you might bracket him, but Gould is liberal and Christen even more so.