The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday on how broadly federal employment discrimination laws apply to schools run by churches in two cases that will give the court another opportunity to rule on the proper relationship between church and state, a topic that has deeply engaged the justices.

The cases, which involve teachers in Catholic schools in California who sued their employers for job discrimination, will require the justices to find a balance between two competing interests: avoiding government interference in the internal affairs of religious groups and protecting the groups’ employees from discrimination.

Eric C. Rassbach, a lawyer for the schools, said courts should not second-guess the judgments of religious groups. “If separation of church and state means anything at all,” he said, “it must mean the government cannot interfere with the church’s decision about who is authorized to teach its religion.”

Jeffrey L. Fisher, a lawyer for two teachers who sued their schools for job discrimination, said the schools’ position was very broad. “The schools’ argument would strip more than 300,000 lay teachers in religious schools across the country of basic employment-law protections,” he said. Read more via New York Times