Overturning Smith, Church Autonomy, and Fair Treatment for Religious Colleges: September 2, 2025

Welcome to the Napa Legal Podcast, where we examine religious liberty from the perspective of faith-based nonprofits. This week we discuss the following legal and policy updates:

1:13 A district court recently applied the Church Autonomy Doctrine to a fraud lawsuit against leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints;

11:42 A Christian baker's request to the Supreme Court to overturn the highly controversial Smith precedent after she was sued for declining to bake a cask celebrating a same-sex legal marriage;

20:09 A recent decision striking down Minnesota's discriminatory policy that excludes religious schools from a tuition reimbursement program.

Read the district court's Church Autonomy decision here:

https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20250826113227/Tenth-Circuit-Opinion-Gaddy.pdf

Read the Christian baker's petition for cert here:

https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20250827094241/Tastries-Cathy-Miller-Cert-Petition.pdf

Read the ruling on Minnesota's policy here:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-mnd-0_23-cv-01527/pdf/USCOURTS-mnd-0_23-cv-01527-0.pdf

Tags: LDS, Mormon church, RICO, fraud and racketeering, First Amendment, free speech, free exercise, Jack Phillips, Masterpiece Cakeshop, public accommodations laws, Employment Division v. Smith, Minnesota PSEO, Establishment Clause, Carson v. Makin, tuition reimbursement laws.

The Napa Legal Podcast, September 2, 2025.