In the case of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan v. Feliciano, 2019, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a Puerto Rican court lacked jurisdiction to issue payment orders against all Catholic entities on the island in order to satisfy pension debts owed by a single catholic school. The dispute began when employees at several catholic schools found their pensions were underfunded and sued for breach of trust. The local courts consolidated all these cases into one and issued an embargo order against all assets held by any entity associated with the Roman Catholic Church in Puerto Rico until they paid off $4.7 million in debt from unpaid employee pensions. However, this decision was overturned by US Supreme Court stating that it violated principles of comity among sovereigns as well as due process rights because each church entity is separate and cannot be held responsible for another's debts.

In the dissenting opinion for Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan v. Feliciano, Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern over the Court's decision to dismiss the case on procedural grounds rather than addressing its substantive issues. He argued that this approach was inconsistent with previous rulings and could potentially lead to confusion in future cases involving similar circumstances. Furthermore, he contended that by not deciding whether or not religious corporations can be sued under federal law, it leaves an important question unanswered which may have significant implications for religious freedom in America. The justice also criticized his colleagues' interpretation of Puerto Rican law as incorrect and their dismissal of a lower court ruling as premature without proper consideration.