A national Orthodox Jewish organization is urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold a ruling that allows Union Gospel Mission of Yakima, a Christian ministry in Washington state, to hire only employees who share its religious beliefs.
The Aleph Institute filed an amicus brief on Thursday supporting the ministry’s challenge to Washington state’s anti-discrimination law, arguing that courts should not become “entangled in religious matters” or second-guess the practices of smaller religious communities.
The case is scheduled for rehearing before an 11-judge Ninth Circuit panel in September 2026 after the court vacated a January ruling from a three-judge panel that sided with the mission.
“We remain confident that the court will recognize the government can’t dictate who is qualified to express the mission’s message or how it disciples others,” Ryan Tucker, senior counsel and director of the Center for Christian Ministries at Alliance Defending Freedom, told JNS. “Under the First Amendment, a religious organization must have the freedom to hire individuals who share and live out their beliefs.”
“It’s very problematic to simply say if you’re a minister then you’re covered, if you’re a non-minister, you’re not,” he said. “Where’s that line?”
“A religious organization should have the right to bring on folks that are lockstep with them on the tenets of their faith,” Tucker told JNS.
The Aleph Institute’s brief argued that allowing courts to determine which employees are sufficiently connected to a faith organization’s mission could threaten religious autonomy across traditions.
It also argues that “a Jewish day school led by a wholly orthodox rabbi would still lose students if its janitors and receptionists wore antisemitic attire.”
The organization warned that a ruling against the mission could have broader implications. If the ruling is not upheld, the brief states, a court could “forbid a synagogue to insist on ushers who can serve its sex-segregated worship services.”
