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On behalf of the Thomas More Society, National Association of Evangelicals, Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, and Christian Legal Society, Professor Emeritus Carl Esbeck of the University of Missouri filed a comment in response to the Department of Labor's planned rescission of Trump-era regulations regarding religious employer exemptions from nondiscrimination requirements.
Professor Esbeck's comment which was filed on December 8, 2021 analyzes the plain text of sections 702a and 703e2 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act which by their terms are not limited to only claims alleging religion as the protected class, critiques limiting a religious exemption to organizations that are "primarily" religious as contrary to the prohibition on courts taking up religious questions, and argues that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the "ministerial exception" deserve mention in any regulation touching religious organizations in the context of nondiscrimination law.
Read the full text of Professor Esbeck's comment here.
