Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-267_1an2.pdf
Page Number: 38.0

2 

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE SCHOOL v. 
MORRISSEY-BERRU 
SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

and collapses Hosanna-Tabor’s careful analysis into a sin-
gle  consideration:  whether  a  church  thinks  its  employees
play  an  important  religious  role.  Because  that  simplistic
approach has no basis in law and strips thousands of school-
teachers of their legal protections, I respectfully dissent. 

I 
A 
Our pluralistic society requires religious entities to abide 
by generally applicable laws.  E,g., Employment Div., Dept. 
of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872, 879– 
882  (1990).  Consistent  with  the  First  Amendment  (and 
over  sincerely  held  religious  objections),  the  Government 
may  compel  religious  institutions  to  pay  Social  Security
taxes  for  their  employees,  United  States  v.  Lee,  455  U. S. 
252, 256–261 (1982), deny nonprofit status to entities that 
discriminate  because  of  race,  Bob  Jones  Univ.  v.  United 
States, 461 U. S. 574, 603–605 (1983), require applicants for 
certain public benefits to register with Social Security num-
bers, Bowen v. Roy, 476 U. S. 693, 699–701 (1986), enforce
child-labor protections, Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U. S. 
158,  166–170  (1944),  and  impose  minimum-wage  laws, 
Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor, 
471 U. S. 290, 303–306 (1985). 

Congress, however, has crafted exceptions to protect reli-
gious  autonomy.    Some  antidiscrimination  laws,  like  the 
Americans with Disabilities Act, permit a religious institu-
tion  to  consider  religion  when  making  employment  deci-
sions.  42 U. S. C. §12113(d)(1).  Under that Act, a religious
organization may also “require that all applicants and em-
ployees  conform”  to  the  entity’s  “religious  tenets.” 
§12113(d)(2).  Title  VII  further  permits  a  school  to  prefer 
“hir[ing] and employ[ing]” people “of a particular religion” 
if its curriculum “propagat[es]” that religion.  §2000e–2(e);
see also §2000e–1(a).  These statutory exceptions protect a
religious  entity’s  ability  to  make  employment  decisions—