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The congregational dispute was the most violent episode in the secular clash of the Third Republic. It was mainly settled by the law of July 1, 1901, whose application was entrusted to the Conseil d’État (Council of State). The analysis of its general assembly highlights, thanks to the combination of members’ positions and biographical data, the confrontation of two camps. Catholic defenders of congregations used “legal fiction” strategies to maintain the existence of religious societies. The Council of State, although subject to a duty of reservation and an obligation of neutrality, became for a few years a discreet political arena. This politicization was limited by the sense of duty of high-ranking civil servants who managed to reconcile the demands of their service with a hidden opposition. This study highlights some of the features of a Catholic interpretation of the law, which seeks to recognize the spontaneous life of institutions instead of coercing it. It also shows the strategies used by an institution, the Council of State, to persist in a hostile political context. The Council found its balance within the new republican institutions by managing the coexistence of the new republican law with the law of the preceding political regimes. The Council of State was responsible for deciding on the life or death of religious institutions and organized its own survival by taking life sparingly and seeking to harmonize jurisprudence wherever possible.