Attorney General Ken Paxton, joined by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, filed a friend-of-the-court brief defending church autonomy. The States urged the full Fifth Circuit to rehear a case after a three-judge panel of that court required the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to prove it had “religious” reasons for its communications with a related religious organization within the Convention.

“Civil courts must honor the constitutionally protected liberties that apply to all faith-based institutions, and these institutions must remain free to independently determine how they will be structured,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The First Amendment does not tolerate judicial review of how faith-based organizations govern themselves, including their relationships with related entities.”

The case involves a dispute between a former employee of the Convention and his allegation that the Mission Board urged the Convention to fire him and prevent him from speaking at a church conference. As reconfirmed by the United States Supreme Court in July, the First Amendment protects churches’ autonomy with regard to internal management decisions, regardless of whether or not the church has religious reasons for those decisions. Civil courts cannot sit in judgment on a church’s decision to remove a minister, nor can they interfere with who the church authorizes to speak on its behalf.

Read a copy of the brief here.