Bollard v. California Province of the Society of Jesus

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

We must decide in this case whether the so-called “ministerial exception” to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars plaintiff John Bollard’s claim of sexual harassment against the Jesuit order. Simply stated, the ministerial exception insulates a religious organization’s employment decisions regarding its ministers from judicial scrutiny under Title VII. The Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment compel this exception to the otherwise fully applicable commands of Title VII when the disputed employment practices involve a church’s freedom…