Constitutional Law — First Amendment — employment

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Civil

Constitutional Law — First Amendment — employment

A court may not review whether a church improperly terminated a ministerial employee because a church’s choice of who shall serve as its ministerial employee is a matter of church governance protected from state interference by the First Amendment and by Article I, Section 18.

“St. Patrick fired DeBruin, a ministerial employee. If DeBruin were not a ministerial employee and made the same claim, we might interpret the contract and consider whether St. Patrick had ‘good and sufficient cause’ for DeBruin’s termination. However, the First Amendment gives St. Patrick the absolute right to terminate DeBruin for any reason, or for no reason, as it freely exercises its religious views. It is the decision itself, i.e., who shall be the voice of St. Patrick, that affects the faith and mission of the church. Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese, 426 U.S. at 713; Young, 21 F.3d at 186-87; Rayburn, 772 F.2d at 1169.”

Affirmed.

2010AP2705 DeBruin v. St. Patrick Congregation

Roggensack, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Olson, Alan C., New Berlin; For Respondent: Kotsonis, Nick, Milwaukee