WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court today ruled that religious schools can determine which employees perform religious functions and if they are adequately fulfilling those functions. Heritage Foundation President Kay C. James offered the following response:

“This ruling is welcome news for Americans of all faiths. By allowing religious institutions— without interference from government—to decide for themselves who will teach their faith and how that faith will be taught, America preserves the fundamental right of religious freedom.”

Emilie Kao, director of Heritage’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, added:

“The Supreme Court was right to affirm that the First Amendment protects the freedom of religious schools to determine who will teach their religious beliefs to the next generation as well as what they will teach. The Supreme Court rejected attempts to impose a formalistic test on religious organizations, saying that ‘what matters is what an employee does.’ Both religious organizations and the state benefit when the government cannot interfere with how religious institutions teaches their beliefs. Today’s decision again clarified that the Constitution protects the autonomy of religious schools to evaluate their own employees’ performance of important religious functions.”