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Page Number: 5.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

Nos. 19–267 and 19–348 
_________________ 

19–267 

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE SCHOOL, PETITIONER 
v. 
AGNES MORRISSEY-BERRU 

19–348 

ST. JAMES SCHOOL, PETITIONER 
v. 
DARRYL BIEL, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE 
ESTATE OF KRISTEN BIEL 

ON WRITS OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT 

[July 8, 2020]

 JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. 
These  cases  require  us  to  decide  whether  the  First 
Amendment permits courts to intervene in employment dis-
putes  involving  teachers  at  religious  schools  who  are  en-
trusted with the responsibility of instructing their students 
in the faith.  The First Amendment protects the right of re-
ligious  institutions  “to  decide  for  themselves,  free  from 
state interference, matters of church government as well as
those of faith and doctrine.”  Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Ca-
thedral of Russian Orthodox Church in North America, 344 
U. S. 94, 116 (1952).  Applying this principle, we held in Ho-
sanna-Tabor  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  and  School  v. 
EEOC,  565  U. S.  171  (2012),  that  the  First  Amendment 
barred a court from entertaining an employment discrimi-
nation  claim  brought  by  an  elementary  school  teacher,