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Paty v. McDaniel, 547 S.W.2d 897 (Tenn. 1977); probable jurisdiction noted, 432 U.S. 905 (1977).
Holding
A state law that forbade ordained ministers from elected office is unconstitutional.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr.·Potter Stewart Byron White·Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun·Lewis F. Powell Jr. William Rehnquist·John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Plurality
Burger, joined by Powell, Rehnquist, Stevens
Concurrence
Brennan, joined by Marshall
Concurrence
Stewart
Concurrence
White
Blackmun took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S. 618 (1978), was a United States Supreme Court case that struck down the last remaining state restriction against religious ministers holding elected office.
McDaniel was a Baptist minister from Chattanooga, Tennessee. He filed as a candidate to be a delegate to the 1977 Tennessee State Constitutional Convention. His opponent successfully challenged his candidacy based on a state law that forbade ordained ministers from elected office.
Decision[]
In an 8–0 decision, the court ruled that the state law violated both the First and Fourteenth Amendments. A modified version of the statute, prohibiting "ministers of the Gospel" from serving in the Tennessee legislature, remains as Article IX, Section 1. of the Tennessee State Constitution.[1]
