No. __-____ In the Supreme Court of the United States __________ THE FALLS CHURCH, PETITIONER v. THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE DIOCESE OF VIRGINIA, ET AL., RESPONDENTS __________ ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF VIRGINIA __________ PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI __________ SCOTT J. WARD STEFFEN N. JOHNSON TIMOTHY R. OBITTS Counsel of Record Gammon & Grange, P.C. GENE C. SCHAERR 8280 Greensboro Drive GORDON A. COFFEE McLean, VA 22102 ANDREW C. NICHOLS (703) 761-5100 Winston & Strawn LLP 1700 K Street, NW JAMES A. JOHNSON Washington, DC 20006 PAUL N. FARQUHARSON (202) 282-5000 Semmes, Bowen &
[email protected] Semmes, P.C. 25 South Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21201 (410) 539-5040 Counsel for Petitioners QUESTIONS PRESENTED I. Whether the First Amendment permits civil courts to retroactively impose a “trust” on church property based on church canons that were never embodied in any secular instrument of property own- ership and did not comply with state law at the time of their adoption. II. Whether the Contracts Clause permits civil courts resolving church property disputes to apply changes to state statutory law retroactively. ii PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDING AND RULE 29.6 STATEMENT Petitioner is The Falls Church (also known as The Church at the Falls–The Falls Church), a Virginia nonstock corporation with no parent corporation. Respondents are The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (also known as The Episcopal Church), an unincorporated New York vol- untary association with no parent corporation or stock; The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Dio- cese of Virginia, an unincorporated Virginia volun- tary association with no parent corporation or stock; and William W.