Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-267_1an2.pdf
Page Number: 53

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

17 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

any religious training for her first 13 years of teaching, un-
til  it  asked  her  to  attend  the  uncompleted  program  de-
scribed  above.  See  id.,  at  76–77.   This  consideration  in-
structs  that  the  teachers  here  did  not  fall  within  the 
ministerial exception.

Third, neither Biel nor Morrissey-Berru held herself out 
as having a leadership role in the faith community.  Neither 
claimed any benefits (tax, governmental, ceremonial, or ad-
ministrative)  available  only  to  spiritual  leaders.  Cf.  Ho-
sanna-Tabor, 565 U. S., at 191–192.  Nor does it matter that 
all teachers signed contracts agreeing to model and impart
Catholic values.  This component of the Hosanna-Tabor in-
quiry focuses on outward-facing behavior, and neither Biel 
nor  Morrissey-Berru  publicly  represented  herself  as  any-
thing more than a fifth-grade teacher.  App. to Brief in Op-
position in No. 19–267, at 1a–2a; App. 249–250.  The Court 
does not grapple with this third component of Hosanna-Ta-
bor’s  inquiry,  which  seriously  undermines  the  schools’ 
cases. 

That leaves only the fourth consideration in Hosanna-Ta-
bor: the teachers’ function.  To be sure, Biel and Morrissey-
Berru taught religion for a part of some days in the week.
But  that  should  not  transform  them  automatically  into 
ministers who “guide” the faith “on its way.”  Hosanna-Ta-
bor, 565 U. S., at 196; see also supra, at 3–4.  Although the 
Court does not resolve this functional question with “a stop-
watch,” it still considers the “amount of time an employee 
spends  on  particular  activities”  in  “assessing  that  em-
ployee’s  status.”  Hosanna-Tabor,  565  U. S.,  at  193–194. 
Here, the time Biel and Morrissey-Berru spent on secular 
instruction far surpassed their time teaching religion.  For 
the vast majority of class, they taught subjects like reading,
writing, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, math, science, so-
cial studies, and geography.  In so doing, both were like any 
public  school  teacher  in  California,  subject  to  the  same 
statewide  curriculum  guidelines.    911  F. 3d,  at  606.    In