Thirty years ago, in Corporation of Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos, 483 U.S. 327 (1987), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that highlighted one of a number of significant differences in the law that applies to religious institutions and their clergy as compared to the law that applies to other not-for-profit and general business corporations and their executives.
In Presiding Bishop, the court upheld the validity of a statutory exception to the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of religion contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This article explores that decision and other examples of the law’s special treatment of religious institutions and clergy members.
