Document Type
Brief
Case Name
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Publication Date
6-2011
Abstract
No. 10-553
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
From the Summary of Argument
This case is about the separation of church and state, an arrangement that is sometimes misunderstood and whose scope is debated, but which is nevertheless a critical dimension of the religious freedom reflected in, and protected by, the First Amendment to our Constitution. For nearly a thousand years, the tradition of Western constitutionalism and the project of protecting political freedom by marking boundaries to the power of government have been assisted by the principled commitment to church-state separation, correctly understood. A community that respects – as ours does – both the importance of, and the distinction between, the spheres of political and religious authority is one in which the fundamental rights of all are more secure; a government that acknowledges this distinction, and the limits to its own reach, is one that will more consistently protect and vindicate the liberties of both individuals and institutions.
Recommended Citation
Garnett, Richard W.; Hollman, K. Hollyn; Rogers, Melissa; Colby, Kimberlee Wood; Berg, Thomas C.; and Esbeck, Carl H., "Brief Amici Curiae of Professor Eugene Volokh, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Queens Federation of Churches, National Association of Evangelicals, and Christian Legal Society in Support of Petitioner" (2011). Court Briefs. 72.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/sct_briefs/72
Comments
Eugene Volokh is Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law. He is the author of several law review articles on the Religion Clauses and on expressive association rights, as well as the textbook The First Amendment and Related Statutes (Foundation Press, 4th ed. 2011).
Table of Authorities includes:
Richard W. Garnett, Religion and Group Rights: Are Churches (Just) Like the Boy Scouts?, 22 St. John’s J. Leg. Comm. 515 (2007).