Sexual assault survivor to file lawsuit against Gateway Church with the Texas Supreme Court

The Texas Supreme Court is being asked Thursday to revive a lawsuit filed by the woman who was sexually abused by Gateway Church founding pastor Robert Morris four decades ago.

Cindy Clemishire and her father filed the $1 million defamation suit in Dallas County in June 2025. The suit alleges Morris, his wife, Debbie, along with former and current elders, knew about Robert Morris' abuse and made millions of dollars from his "moral failures and rape of plaintiff, Cindy Clemishire."

The abuse began in Oklahoma when Clemishire was 12 years old and lasted four-and-a-half years.

Clemishire and her legal team plan to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday in front of the Texas Supreme Court in Austin to announce the new filing.

Appeals court decision

In August, the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas ordered the case be dismissed, saying secular courts cannot intervene in church governance. The decision cited what's known as the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which "prohibits civil courts from delving into matters of theological controversy, church discipline, ecclesiastical government, or the conformity of members of the church to the standard of morals required of them."

One of Clemishire's attorneys, State Rep. Jeff Leach, argues the appellate court's decision creates what he calls "an extraordinary double standard in Texas law" that shields leaders of a church in a way that the leaders of other secular institutions could not be.

"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," Leach said in a statement announcing the court filing. "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."

Church declines comment

In a statement after the appellate court ruling, Gateway attorney Ron Breaux wrote in part, "This decision strongly reaffirms that principle of church autonomy and makes clear that it protects every church, regardless of how it chooses to organize and govern itself."

Gateway Church said it would have no comment on the latest legal filing.

An attorney for Robert and Debbie Morris hopes to have a statement later Thursday.

Robert Morris pleaded guilty in October 2025 in Osage County, Oklahoma, to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. He was sentenced to six months in jail and was released earlier this year to serve the rest of his sentence on probation. He has had to register as a sex offender.

Federal fraud suit dismissed

In July, a federal judge dismissed a fraud lawsuit brought by a group of former Gateway Church members, who accused the church and the Morrises of mishandling millions of dollar in church donations, or tithes.

The group since filed an appeal of the judge's decision. There's been no word on the status of their case.