(CN) - The Texas Supreme Court gave the Methodist Church a green light Friday to sue to regain control over Southern Methodist University, which voted to break from the church in 2019.

The Dallas-based university, which currently enrolls over 12,000 students and has a $2.2 billion endowment, was founded over 100 years ago by what is now the United Methodist Church. SMU's articles of incorporation previously stated that it was "to be forever owned, maintained and controlled" by the church's South Central Jurisdictional Conference and that any amendments to the articles required the conference's approval.

But the university's board of trustees voted to unilaterally remove this language following a schism in the church due to a 2019 vote by the UMC to uphold the church's ban on LGBTQ clergy and its prohibition on Methodist pastors performing same-sex marriages. Both of these policies have since been repealed.

SMU argued that since it is a nonmember, nonprofit corporation, the conference is a third party that has no authority to challenge the decisions of the university's board. The Texas Supreme Court disagreed. In an opinion authored by Justice Debra Lehrmann, the court found that a provision in the Texas Business Organizations Code allowing religious organizations to control nonprofit educational corporations means that the conference can seek a declaratory judgment invalidating the 2019 amendments.

"SMU would thus view the Code as simultaneously granting a right and ensuring the holder has no mechanism to enforce it. We decline to do so," Lehrmann wrote.

A majority of justices also held that the articles of incorporation constitute a contract between SMU and the state of Texas and that the conference can sue for breach of contract as a third-party beneficiary of that contract.

Two religious freedom advocacy groups filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the case, each arguing for opposing outcomes. The First Liberty Institute argued that the conference's lawsuit should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, as ruling on it would require the court to impermissibly weigh in on a matter of church governance. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty similarly asserted that the court can't interfere in matters of religion, but it argued this means that the court should enforce the church's right to control SMU.

The Texas Supreme Court declined to take either path, instead finding that it could resolve the case by interpreting Texas law and the university's articles of incorporation without needing to rule on religious matters and that the case should be sent back to the trial court to rule on the conference's declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims.

The UMC South Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops and Mission Council said in a joint statement that the court's ruling "supports our original position that SMU must seek the approval of the SCJ when making changes to its amendments."

"Our desire is to see this matter brought to a peaceful resolution so that our historic connection to the university can be fruitfully maintained for future generations," the SCJ said.

SMU spokesperson Megan Jacob told Courthouse News in an email that the university is "prepared to return to the trial court" and that it "will continue to defend the SMU Board of Trustees' right to act in the best interests of the University."

"SMU remains proud of its Methodist heritage as we move forward with advancing SMU's mission and providing enriching education for all students," Jacob wrote.

Source: Courthouse News Service