Whether the First Amendment's church-autonomy doctrine precludes judicial review of a religious organization's internal governance and doctrinal determinations

No question identified. : deference. That decision was wrong and, if allowed to stand, will have profound negative implications for all hierarchical religious organizations. To allow this issue and the underlying dispute to be fully considered by this Court, and pursuant to Supreme Court Rules 13.5, 22, and 30, applicants Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International (the official title of the Unification Church), the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), and the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (Japan) (UCJ), request a 60-day extension, to December 1, 2025, to petition for a writ of certiorari.! The petition will present at least one question of vital importance to virtually all hierarchical religious denominations: Whether the First Amendment forbids a court from deciding whether a denomination is hierarchical when it asserts that the church-autonomy doctrine makes its resolution of questions of polity, governance or doctrine binding on the court. The D.C. Court of Appeals’ opinion finally rejecting all the Church’s claims on grounds was issued on July 3, 2025, and the petition is currently due on October 1, 2025. See Family Fed’n for World Peace & Unification Int'l v. Moon (Moon IV), 338 A.3d 10 (D.C. 2025) (