The right to freely exercise religion, listed as one of the first rights in the First Amendment, is undoubtedly a bedrock principle of American constitutional law. What happens, then, if a group of individuals were to willingly execute a contract restricting themselves to a certain set of religious rules? A case recently appealed to the Supreme Court, Church of Scientology International v. Bixler (2022), dealt with this very question. The Respondents were a group of women, including Chrissie Carnell Bixler and two Jane Doe’s, who sued for alleged sexual assault by a church member, Daniel Masterson. However, the women originally signed a contract agreeing to resolve any disputes by arbitration within their church and its rules of procedure. Later, they left the faith, and were sued by the Church in order to bind them to the agreement. The Church claimed that the arbitration agreement is an enforceable contract—requiring them to abide by Scientology rules, regardless of faith. The California Court of Appeal, however, sided with the Respondents to not enforce the arbitration agreement, on the grounds that their change in beliefs would free them of their contractual obligations under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. [1]

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