A unanimous decision in Hosanna-Tabor Church v. EEOC. This was the case in which the Obama administration argued that it was more qualified than a Lutheran school to determine whether a Church minister was teaching in accordance with Church teaching.
This case matters for many reasons, but especially because it reminds us
all that the separation of church and state — when it is properly
understood — is an important mechanism for protecting the religious
liberty of all — believers and nonbelievers alike. Church-state
separation is often misunderstood and seen as an anti-religious program,
or as requiring that “religion” stay out of politics or public life.
But this is not the point of church-state separation at all. The idea is
to constrain government regulation, not religious expression and
practice. Separation is an arrangement that protects religious
authorities, institutions, and communities from unjustified interference
by governments.
On the significance of the unanimous decision:
This last point is worth emphasizing: The administration’s lawyers had
pressed an extreme view — one that no other court, and few scholars and
experts, had embraced — and they convinced no one.
