SCOTUSblog Monday round-up, May 11th, 2020
Edith Roberts Editor
Posted Mon, May 11th, 2020 6:24 am
Monday round-up
This morning the justices will begin the last week of oral arguments for October Term 2019 with telephonic arguments in two cases. The first is McGirt v. Oklahoma, which asks whether Oklahoma had jurisdiction to prosecute a crime committed by a member of the Seminole Tribe within the historical boundaries of the Creek Indian reservation in eastern Oklahoma. Ronald Mann previewed the case for this blog. Philip Duggan and Robert Reese Oñate have a preview at Cornell Law Schools Legal Information Institute. At Bloomberg Law, Jordan Rubin reports that Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has sided with tribal interests in a string of decisions since joining the court, likely holds the deciding vote in a criminal case with roots in the infamous Trail of Tears of the 1830s, one with vast implications for criminal, tax, and regulatory power.
The other case on todays agenda is Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, which involves the scope of the ministerial exception to federal employment discrimination laws. Amy Howe had this blogs preview, which first appeared at Howe on the Court. Kathryn Adamson, Jingyi Alice Yao and David Relihan provice Cornells preview. David Savage reports for the Los Angeles Times that [a]t issue is whether those teachers and other employees at religious institutions should be viewed as ministers, allowing religious schools to hire and fire them at will, bypassing anti-discrimination laws that prevent basing such decisions on race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or other impermissible factors. At Education Weeks School Law Blog, Mark Walsh reports that [a]dvocates and allies for two Roman Catholic schools in the Los Angeles area say it is a matter of religious freedom that such laws not interfere with the right of churches and religious schools to choose their ministers, which includes not just those who preach from the pulpit but also those who teach the faith. In a video posted on his eponymous blog, Ross Runkel predicts a clear-cut victory for the schools.
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Monday round-up, SCOTUSblog (May. 11, 2020, 6:24 AM),
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Big #scotus week: Trump financial records Tues, electoral college Wed. And today: Kristen Biel lost her job at Catholic school after a cancer diagnosis, then died. Can her lawsuit moves forward, or if she is a "minister" who can't sue religious employer?