As a second Trump administration approaches, we’re running out of time to confirm as many federal judges as possible to provide a check on his presidential power and curb his stated policy priorities.
There are 40 federal judicial vacancies and 16 nominations before the Senate right now—as our civil rights hang in the balance, take action now!
On January 6, the National Women’s Law Center, along with over 30 civil rights organizations, unions, and faith organizations joined an amicus brief submitted by Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Demkovich v. Saint Andrew the Apostle Parish, a case in the Seventh Circuit regarding the ministerial exception. Sandor Demkovich worked as the music director at St. Andrew, where he was repeatedly harassed by his coworkers and subjected to homophobic and disability-related slurs. When he brought discrimination claims against his employer under Title VII and the ADA, they claimed immunity under the ministerial exception, a doctrine that was originally intended to allow houses of worship freedom to hire their own leaders. A three-judge panel previously ruled that the ministerial exception does not immunize the parish from Mr. Demkovich’s claims, but the full Seventh Circuit en banc agreed to rehear the case. The amicus brief urges the court not to extend the ministerial exception to bar all claims of workplace harassment. Expanding the rule to cover all hostile work environment claims would cause serious harm employees who would be subject to harassment without recourse.
