Hankins v. Lyght: The RFRA Defense to Federal Discrimination Claims
Steven Shepard
Abstract
Does the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA") bar employment discrimination lawsuits against churches? Last year a divided panel of the Second Circuit answered "yes" to that question in Hankins v. Lyght, but the Seventh Circuit disagreed; its opinion in Tomic v. Catholic Diocese of Peoria called Hankins "unsound."