ALAN J. REINACH , EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHURCH STATE COUNCIL
Forty-five years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Trans World Airlines (TWA) v. Hardison. TWA may long since have been grounded, but its name lives on in infamy for employees of faith everywhere. This term, the Justices will review that decision in Groff v. DeJoy, presenting them with an opportunity to restore religious liberty in the workplace.
Some have suggested that rejecting Hardison would mean throwing out reliance upon some long-standing U.S. Supreme Court decision. In fact, in 1977, the Justices in Hardison were tasked only with reviewing non-binding guidance drafted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding Title VII, a section of the Civil Rights Act that protects the rights of America’s workers. The High Court has never reviewed the actual language of Title VII, which would prohibit employers firing employees, in the words of Sen. Jennings Randolph (D-W.V.), “whose religious practices rigidly require them to abstain from work…on particular days.”