— even if they have other duties as well. The Becket Fund was also involved in that litigation. But Charlotte Catholic has not argued that Billard’s job was ministerial. He had been a drama teacher for a decade before becoming a substitute in retirement. While classes began with a prayer, the teacher did not have to lead it, according to the court record; secular teachers at the school do not have to be Catholic and were discouraged from engaging students on theology.
” protected by the First Amendment, just as Colorado web designer Lorie Smith successfully argued that she has the right to choose which marriages to celebrate with her work. In both the North Carolina and Indiana cases, Becket saysundermines the argument that the expressive association protections don’t apply to commercial transactions.being applied to employment.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is litigating Billard’s case, referenced that comment as showing that the decision has no applicability in Billard’s lawsuit. “The Court rejected the dissent’s assertion that its decision opened the door to discrimination in employment,” ACLU attorney Josh Block wrote in a reply to Becket’s letter.
that an antiabortion nonprofit had a First Amendment right to fire employees who have abortions or engage in extramarital sex.cuts in their favor . Based on stipulations in the case, the Supreme Court found that Smith’s web design work was “pure speech,” which has the most protection under the First Amendment. Here, the ACLU argues that an employer-employee relationship is not an expressive association and there is at most an incidental impact on the Church’s expression of its values. The district court judge who ruled in Billard’s favor said the church’s argument was “preposterous” in how it would upend employment law.