The Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled on Wednesday in favor of Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, in River Edge, N.J., in a defamation suit brought against the Jewish day school by a rabbi it had fired, citing inappropriate interactions with elementary-age girls under Jewish law.
“Religious schools should not have to fear being dragged into court when making decisions that seek to protect children in their care,” stated Laura Wolk Slavis, counsel at Becket, which filed a brief in the case. “The justices ensured that this freedom is upheld for Jews and for people of all faiths across the Garden State.”
The ministerial exception doesn’t apply to an instance like a priest suing a bishop who punches him in the face, explained Becket; rather, it protects religious groups from defamation suits that “do nothing more than ask a court to second-guess how a religious school chose to discipline one of its ministers.”