neutral-principles

12 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-849 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops v. David O'Connell District of Columbia 2026-01-15 Pending Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse Waived church-autonomy constitutional-claims legal-defense neutral-principles religious-offering state-power Whether church autonomy provides a structural limit on state power that protects churches from the burdens of litigating unconstitutional claims; Whet…
25-634 Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International, et al. v. Hyun Jin Moon, et al. District of Columbia 2025-12-03 Pending church-autonomy church-leadership first-amendment neutral-principles property-dispute religious-entanglement Where necessary to resolve a church-property dispute, does the First Amendment prohibit courts from examining church-related facts to determine who le…
24-5844 Kimberly Edelstein v. Max Edelstein Ohio 2024-10-29 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP constitutional-rights contract-law due-process free-exercise-clause neutral-principles religious-marriage Whether Ohio courts improperly invalidated a Jewish marriage contract (Ketubah) by refusing to enforce religious marriage agreements and applying inco…
23-1030 Mississippi District Council for Assemblies of God v. Kevin Beachy, et al. Mississippi 2024-03-19 Denied Response RequestedRelisted (2) church-governance ecclesiastical-abstention ecclesiastical-authority first-amendment hierarchical-church intra-church-dispute jurisdictional-limits neutral-principles religious-freedom standing Whether the First Amendment deprives courts of jurisdiction to enforce the ecclesiastical decisions of religious authorities in an intra-church disput…
20-1174 Kim Lippard, et vir v. Larry Holleman, et al. North Carolina 2021-02-25 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (3) civil-claims defamation ecclesiastical-settings first-amendment neutral-principles neutral-principles-of-law religion-clauses tort-claims Whether the First Amendment's Religion Clauses prohibit courts from hearing defamation claims that arise from ecclesiastical settings, even when the c…
20-1158 The North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Inc. v. Will McRaney Fifth Circuit 2021-02-23 Denied Amici (6)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (3) employment employment-tort first-amendment ministerial-exception neutral-principles religion-clauses religious-organization secular-court tort-law Whether a secular court can adjudicate a minister's employment-related tort claims against a religious organization using neutral principles of tort l…
20-534 All Saints' Episcopal Church (Fort Worth) v. The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, et al. Texas 2020-10-22 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (2) church-property-dispute church-property-disputes ecclesiastical-question establishment-clause express-trust-provision free-exercise free-exercise-clause jones-v-wolf neutral-principles neutral-principles-of-law Whether the Texas Supreme Court's decision awarding petitioner's sanctuary and rectory to a dissident faction in contravention of the will of petition…
20-536 The Episcopal Church, et al. v. The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, et al. Texas 2020-10-22 Denied Relisted (2) church-property church-property-disputes constitutional-law ecclesiastical-deference express-trusts first-amendment free-exercise neutral-principles polity religious-freedom Whether the First Amendment requires courts to enforce express trusts in church governing documents or whether state law may render such trusts unenfo…
19-1253 Kenneth Shelton v. Anthonee Patterson Pennsylvania 2020-04-28 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) church-autonomy church-governance church-leadership civil-magistrate civil-rights first-amendment free-speech leadership-selection neutral-principles religious-freedom Whether a church's First Amendment rights are violated when, under the guise of 'neutral principles,' a civil magistrate selects the leadership of the…
19-158 Marcus Turner, Sr., et al. v. Alva C. Hines, et al. District of Columbia 2019-08-02 Denied Amici (2)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) church-dispute church-governance coercive-intrusion first-amendment judicial-inquiry neutral-principles neutral-principles-of-law religious-doctrine state-interference Does the First Amendment require courts to consider whether a judicial inquiry intrudes coercively into church governance even when there is no religi…
18-826 Kenneth Shelton v. Anthonee Patterson Pennsylvania 2019-01-02 Denied Response Waived church-autonomy first-amendment hosanna-tabor hosanna-tabor-v-eeoc intra-church-disputes intra-church-litigation jones-v-wolf judicial-scrutiny leadership-succession neutral-principles religious-dispute serbian-eastern-orthodox-diocese-v-milivojevich Whether this Court should clarify Jones v. Wolf and Hosanna-Tabor v. E.E.O.C., given the doctrinal uncertainty and unpredictability reflected in incon…
18-636 The Pure Presbyterian Church of Washington, et al. v. The Grace of God Presbyterian Church Virginia 2018-11-16 Dismissed church-property civil-procedure constitutional-competence ecclesiastical-abstention establishment-clause first-amendment free-exercise merger-analysis neutral-principles religious-freedom religious-organizations subject-matter-jurisdiction Whether the trial court's determination that Grace Presbyterian was the successor church to Pure Presbyterian, which was held to have been extinguishe…