The Texas Supreme Court has been asked to revive a defamation lawsuit against Gateway Church, its former pastor Robert Morris and its elders after lawyers for the plaintiff argued in a petition filed this week that a lower court had impermissibly expanded the scope of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine in determining the suit should end.
Last month, the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas concluded that the doctrine — which, in essence, bars civil courts from deciding cases that call into question a church’s doctrine, internal decisions and governance — applied to completely end Cindy Clemishire’s claims against Gateway Church and its elders.
In the petition for review filed this week, Clemishire told the Texas Supreme Court that the lower court had gone too far in interpreting the doctrine’s scope.
“The decision below bars any inquiry into a church’s knowledge regardless of the context of the claim at hand,” the petition argues. “It transforms the doctrine from a tool of qualified restraint to a totalizing shield that leaves churches immune from judicial oversight. In doing so, the court of appeals undercuts the very rationale the doctrine derives from.”
Clemishire has alleged that in 1982, when she was 12 years old and Morris was a 22-year-old traveling pastor, he began sexually assaulting her, and that the abuse, which continued until 1987, included rape. Morris pleaded guilty to five counts related to sexually abusing Clemishire and spent six months in an Osage County, Oklahoma, jail until his release in late March.
In June 2024, Morris resigned as pastor of the church he founded in 2000, but a statement by the church issued to its congregants days earlier, along with subsequent communications, led to Clemishire’s lawsuit. Clemishire alleged statements characterizing what happened to her at Morris’ hands as an “inappropriate relationship with a young lady” constituted defamation.
The Fifth Court of Appeals also substantially ended Clemishire’s claims against Morris and his wife Deborah Morris. The one exception is Clemishire’s claim that an affidavit Morris filed May 30, 2025 — in separate litigation in Tarrant County between Morris and the church over his retirement payments — was also defamatory.
In her appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, Clemishire argued the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine applies only to church members seeking relief from ecclesiastical decisions, but the Fifth Court of Appeals expanded the doctrine’s scope to nonmembers.
If allowed to stand, Clemishire argued, the impact of the lower court’s ruling will have unintended broad consequences in all types of cases where a party attempts to bring suit against a church.
“Consider a negligence claim in which the victims of sexual abuse allege that a church knew of a priest’s dangerous propensities but placed him in positions that gave him easy access to children. Or a fraud claim in which congregants allege church leaders represented that their donations would be used for one purpose but then diverted them to others,” the petition reads. “Or a garden-variety slip-and-fall claim in which the plaintiff alleges the church knew or should have known of the dangerous condition on its property. Because ‘internal church deliberations and processes’ would be the focus of those claims, under the decisions below courts would lack jurisdiction over all of them (and many more).”
In a press release announcing the appeal, Clemishire’s lawyer, Jeff Leach of Gray Reed & McGraw, made a statement.
“Texas should be the last place in America where a child sexual abuse survivor is told that the courthouse doors are closed because the people she is trying to hold accountable happened to lead a church,” he said. “Religious liberty is one of our most fundamental freedoms. But religious liberty cannot mean religious immunity. Protecting a predator is not theology, and defaming his victim is not church doctrine.”
Bill Mateja of Sheppard, who represents Morris and his wife, told The Lawbook Clemishire’s argument on appeal — that religious liberty cannot equal religious immunity — is a “fair point,” but said that’s not what the lower court held.
“Two courts have now agreed that Gateway’s affairs were inherently ecclesiastical and beyond the court’s jurisdiction,” he said. “That’s not a loophole. That’s the Constitution working as intended and we’re confident the Texas Supreme Court will see it the same way.”
Mateja also said his client had taken “ownership of what happened in the 1980s and apologized in good faith.”
“Turning that apology into an argument for defamation liability cheapens what an apology is supposed to mean — and it’s hard to see this as anything other than an attempt to convert accountability into a big payday.”
The lead lawyers representing the other defendants named in Clemishire’s suit did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.
Separately, Clemishire filed on Wednesday an unopposed emergency motion for a stay, explaining that the Fifth Court of Appeals ordered the trial court to dismiss her claims by Sept. 19.
“Should their claims be dismissed, the Clemishires’ substantive rights and this court’s jurisdiction will be lost,” the motion reads. “Relators request this court grant a stay on or before the Fifth Court of Appeals’ September 19 deadline for the trial court to dismiss the underlying action for lack of jurisdiction.”
Clemishire is also represented by William Drabble, Drew York and Reid Burley of Gray Reed & McGraw, Alex Yaffe and Eric Cavett of Foshee & Yaffe and Richard Hardy, Meghan Mitchell, Joshua Conaway and Jodee Rankin of Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway.
Gateway is represented by Ronald Breaux, Bradley Foster and Christopher Knight of Haynes Boone, Wendi Hodges and Alison Haefner of Middlebrook | Group and David Macdonald and John Safarli of Macdonald, Devin, Madden, Kenefick & Harris.
Robert and Deborah Morris are also represented by Brandy R. Manning of Condon Tobin Sladek Sparks Nerenberg and Jason Hoggan of Sheppard.
The elders are represented by Edwin Buffmire, Marc Fuller and Sarah Starr of Jackson Walker.
The case number is 26-1056.