Articles

7th Circuit ruling expands ministerial exception, potentially impacting Indiana high school cases

Shelly Fitzgerald and Lynn Starkey, former guidance counselors at Roncalli High School, and Joshua Payne-Elliott, a former foreign language and social studies teacher at Cathedral High School, all filed separate lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis after they were all terminated from their jobs because they are in same-sex marriages. This month’s decision from the 7th Circuit in Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, 19-2142, could change the trajectory of each of those cases.

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7th Circuit denies third attempt of death penalty relief, notes questions raised about federal ‘savings clause’

An incarcerated man waiting on federal death row has for the third time unsuccessfully sought relief from his capital punishment, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. This time, it rejected his argument under the “savings clause” that recent changes in clinical diagnostic standards show that he is intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty.

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