In CNS International Ministries, Inc. v. Bax, (ED MO, March 3, 2025), a Missouri federal district court rejected a series of challenges to Missouri's Residential Care Facility Notification Act. The Act requires disclosures, background checks, recordkeeping, and health and safety standards for residential care facilities housing children that are run by religious organizations. In particular CNS objected to background checks that disqualified two of its employees. Among other things, the court concluded that the statute did not infringe CNS's 1st Amendment right to expressive association, saying in part:
Under the statute and its regulations, members of CNSIMI have the potential to be excluded from HCYH, one of CNSIMI’s programs and not its entire ministry. Plaintiff has not established partial exclusion from HCYH would amount to a significant burden on its right to freedom of association. But even if partial exclusion were a significant burden, the Court finds the State has a compelling interest in protecting children who are residents of LERCFs, and the RCFNA’s disclosure and background check requirements are narrowly tailored to achieve that interest....
Rejecting plaintiff's parental rights argument, the court said in part:
Under Pierce, parents cannot be compelled to send their children to public schools; they have a fundamental right to choose a private school.... Parents, however, do not have a fundamental right to send their children to a private school free of state regulation, including reasonable background check requirements. ...
Rejecting CNS's ministerial exception argument, the court said in part:
CNSIMI does not claim that any of its “ministers” have been deemed to be ineligible for employment or presence at HCYH. It is undisputed that two CNSIMI employees did not meet RCFNA’s background check requirements, but Plaintiff does not argue that these two employees – one who was a janitor and the other who was a cafeteria worker – meet the functional requirements of a “minister.”... Furthermore, the Court declines to make a blanket determination that CNSIMI’s teachers, house parents, administrators, and board members qualify under the ministerial exception without evidence as to how specific individuals perform these jobs....
