Victory for Ursuline Academy in the Third Circuit

Jun 7, 2006

Today, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming the dismissal of sex discrimination claims against Ursuline Academy of Wilmington, some of its former employees, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, and Bishop Michael Saltarelli.

"The Third Circuit reaffirmed what should have been obvious all along: Title VII was not designed to prevent a religious school from firing a teacher for publicly repudiating the school's religious teaching," remarked Anthony Picarello, President & General Counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "To rule otherwise would threaten fundamental religious freedom interests of the school guaranteed by the First Amendment."

Michele Curay-Cramer taught English and Religion at Ursuline Academy, an independent Catholic school in Wilmington, Delaware.  On the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in January 2003, Curay-Cramer signed onto a full-page ad in the Wilmington News Journal, praising the Roe decision and declaring her pro-choice position.  That same day, Ursuline sponsored a field trip of its students to Washington, DC to protest the Roe decision and declare the school's pro-life position. 

Shortly thereafter, Curay-Cramer was fired for publicly repudiating one of the core moral values that the school exists to teach.  But she soon sued the school, claiming that her discharge was sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty then joined the defense and, along with co-counsel Steve Jenkins of Ashby & Geddes and Barry Willoughby of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, filed motions to dismiss Curay-Cramer's suit.

In November 2004, the federal district court granted those motions to dismiss on First Amendment grounds.  Today's decision affirms that dismissal, but on slightly different grounds.  One of the claims was again dismissed because it threatened to violate the First Amendment, but two others were found so weak under Title VII that the Court did not even have to reach the constitutional question.

Resources & Documents

• Decision of the Third Circuit (June 7, 2006) (PDF, 55.57KB)

Relevant Cases

• Michele Curay-Cramer v. Ursuline Academy, et al.