Religious hiring exemption upheld: anatomy of a Supreme Court ruling

In 1980 the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) notified five employees that they could no longer continue in church employment because they would not or could not attend the temple as members in good standing. Together, the five filed suit in federal district court in Utah, alleging that the LDS Church discriminated against them on religious grounds in violation of Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which generally prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of religion. The plaintiffs said the statutory exemption for religious organizations in Section 702 operated as a religious preference and penalized their personal choices of religion in violation of the First Amendment. The case ended up in the Supreme Court, which upheld the provision exempting religious organizations from Title VII with respect to employing people of a particular religion for all not-for-profit activities. Evidence in the case included: Legislative history. As first enacted in 1964, Section 702 provided a limited exemption to religious corporations. In 1972 Congress enacted a broader exemption, effectively exempting from the sweep of Title VII employment decisions made by religious employers with respect to members of that religion in any work connected with the religious corporation. District court proceedings. The Utah court borrowed from several earlier cases, including one that avoided the constitutional issue by deciding that the function challenged was uniquely religious and, thus, exempted. Briefs amicus curiae. Four religious organizations filed briefs amicus curiae.