Published February 19, 2026
On February 19, 2026, an amicus brief was filed on behalf of EPPC Scholar Rachel N. Morrison in United States Conference of Catholic Bishops v. O’Connell, urging the Supreme Court to hear a case involving whether religious organizations, like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, can immediately appeal denials of church autonomy defenses. The D.C. Circuit held that such denials cannot be appealed until after a final decision on the merits, which often requires lengthy and costly discovery and trial.
The brief was filed by Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP on behalf of Morrison, a former attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and former EEOC General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson, experts in religion-related employment discrimination. The EEOC is the federal agency responsible for preventing and remedying unlawful employment discrimination, and it investigates charges of employment discrimination against a wide range of employers, including religious organizations.
The brief explains “how the D.C. Circuit’s holding invites unconstitutional government intrusion in one context where the issue frequently arises: EEOC investigations into the employment decisions of religious organizations.” Relying on Morrison’s and Gustafson’s knowledge of the EEOC and its practices, the brief provides “a unique perspective on how the D.C. Circuit’s decision will force small religious organizations to choose between financial ruin or giving up meritorious First Amendment defenses and capitulating to government investigations or lawsuits.”
The brief argues that “the church autonomy doctrine would be ineffective if it did not protect religious organizations from the burden of litigation and governmental investigations barred by the First Amendment.”
Urging the Supreme Court to hear the case, the brief concludes: “the D.C. Circuit’s holding places religious employers, particularly small or minority organizations, in the EEOC’s crosshairs. EEOC investigation of discrimination charges that the church autonomy doctrine would otherwise bar is ‘inherently coercive’, even if the employer is ultimately vindicated.”
Rachel N. Morrison is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project, which advocates for an authentic understanding of the human person in the drafting, implementation, and rollback of government regulations.
