Here's thread number two on Title VII cases. The more I think about the trajectory of the case law, the more I think SCOTUS will reach the jurisprudential equivalent of a version of the Utah Compromise. (More protections for LGBT Americans, with specific religious exemptions.) /1
Unless I'm reading the tea leaves wrong (and I could be!), SCOTUS will likely expand the reach of the ministerial exemption -- allowing religious institutions to functionally define which employees are exempt from nondiscrimination law. /2
Also, remember that the court took Fulton v. City of Philadelphia to potentially revisit the scope of the free exercise clause in the context of applying nondiscrimination laws to a Catholic foster/adoption agency. /3 scotusblog.com/case-files/cas…
And don't forget Gorsuch's own high view of religious liberty, and the plain words of his opinion today, where he called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act "a kind of super statute, displacing the normal operation of other federal laws." /4 
A year from now, the jurisprudence could look largely like this -- secular employers are fully subject to each element of Title VII while religious employers enjoy a broad ministerial exception and a more robust free exercise clause. /5
Again, this is speculation (informed by the court's prior jurisprudence and the judicial philosophies of the relevant justices), but I think it's more likely than not the short and medium-term outcome. Time will tell. /end
