Inside Higher Ed:
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear two higher education cases, effectively letting stand appeals court decisions that (1) would require the University of Phoenix to defend itself against charges that it violated federal law by paying recruiters based on how many students they enrolled and (2) upheld Gannon University’s right to change a former minister’s duties in ways she believed were punitive. In the first case, the University of Phoenix (supported by some higher education groups) had argued that the Supreme Court should overturn last fall’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit because its interpretation of the federal False Claims Act was overly expansive and could expose colleges and companies to extreme liability for minor wrongdoing. The court’s decision to let the Ninth Circuit ruling stand, however, was applauded by lawyers for the former enrollment counselors who had challenged Phoenix’s compensation policies, who the lawyers said deserve their day in court. In the Gannon case, the Supreme Court’s decision not to consider the case lets stand a Third Circuit ruling last September that upheld the “ministerial exception” that generally shields religious colleges and organizations from employment claims brought by clergy. The Third Circuit’s ruling discarded a ruling by the same court a few months earlier that had significantly undermined the ministerial exception.
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