LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — January 25–26, 2013, Page 6

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(a) Within 30 days after receipt of an appeal from the accused, an Appeal Panel shall be
selected by the Secretary of the Synod. The Appeal Panel shall be made up of three district
presidents who shall be trained for such service.
(1) One district president shall be selected by the accused, one by the ecclesiastical
supervisor of the accused, and the third by the two Appeal Panel members so selected.
(2) If the two Appeal Panel members cannot agree on a third panel member, the
Secretary of the Synod shall select the third member by blind draw from the remaining
eligible district presidents.
(b) The members of the Appeal Panel shall be provided with copies of the official record of
the case, including the full report of the reconciler, the Hearing Panel minutes, the written
decision and all documentary evidence considered by the Hearing Panel, and the written
memorandum stating the basis for the appeal. The panel shall make its decision solely on
the basis of the materials received.
(c) The only decision to be made by the Appeal Panel shall be whether to approve
reconsideration of the Hearing Panel decision. The panel shall not approve a request for a
new hearing on the basis of newly discovered evidence unless such evidence was clearly
not available to the Hearing Panel and was not the fault of the party requesting the
reopening of the case, and unless it is clear that the absence of such evidence resulted in a
gross miscarriage of justice.
(d) The standards of review that shall define the Appeal Panel’s considerations shall be
limited to three (3) basic areas:
(1) Factual findings: The Appeal Panel shall review factual findings of the Hearing
Panel only to determine if they are supported by evidence. The Appeal Panel shall not
ordinarily sit in judgment of the Hearing Panel’s conclusions regarding evidence, since
the Hearing Panel was in the best position to judge factual issues. The Appeal Panel
must be convinced that a mistake has been committed, that is, that the evidence is such
that reasonable minds could not agree with the Hearing Panel’s decision.
(2) Conclusions on authority: The Appeal Panel may approve an appeal if the Hearing
Panel was clearly outside its authority, e.g., a decision was made that the panel had no
authority to make under the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod, or a decision was
made on an issue not related to the sole issue to be decided, or a decision was made on
a theological question that the panel had no authority to make.
(3) Discretionary acts: The Appeal Panel may approve an appeal if there was a clear
abuse of discretion impacting the decision of the Hearing Panel, resulting in a gross
miscarriage of justice, or that involves an obvious and inappropriate bias or prejudice.
(d) If the Appeal Panel denies the request for reconsideration of the decision of the Hearing
Panel and upholds the suspension of the ecclesiastical supervisor, the decision of the
Hearing Panel shall be regarded as final and shall
(1) be binding upon the parties and not be subject to further appeal;
(2) have no precedential value;
(3) be carried out by the district president or the President of the Synod; and
(4) shall be publicized as deemed appropriate under the circumstances by the district
president or the President of the Synod.
(e) If the Appeal Panel grants the request for reconsideration of the decision of the Hearing
Panel, a Final Hearing Panel shall be selected by the Secretary of the Synod.
Final Hearing Panel

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