ACLJ Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Action On Behalf of Louisiana Christian Coalition.

Business Editors & Legal Writers

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 2001

The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, said today it is encouraged by action taken by the U.S. Supreme Court that vacates a federal appeals court ruling that permits a Louisiana school district to ban the Christian Coalition from using its facilities after hours in a highly publicized equal access case.

The Supreme Court today granted a request by the ACLJ to take the Louisiana case, vacated a lower court ruling, and sent the case back to the lower court to reconsider in light of last week's Supreme Court decision in the Good News case - an important ruling that said it was unconstitutional to discriminate against a religious group because of the religious nature of its meetings.

"What the Supreme Court has done has said that the lower court got it wrong - that our client - the Louisiana Christian Coalition - should not be subject to discriminatory treatment by a school district," said Stuart J. Roth, Senior Regional Counsel of the ACLJ which represents the Christian Coalition. "We are confident that today's action by the Supreme Court sends a powerful message that the law is very clear on this issue: if school officials permit other community organizations to use its facilities after hours, they cannot reject a request from an organization with a religious message. It is our hope that both the federal appeals court and the school district in Louisiana will now move to protect the constitutional rights of people of faith."

The ACLJ asked the Supreme Court in January 2001 to take the case and overturn a ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2000 that prevents the Christian Coalition from using school facilities in St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana. The case originated in 1998 when the ACLJ filed a federal lawsuit after the state chapter of the Christian Coalition repeatedly requested permission to use school facilities after-hours for a one-time prayer meeting. School officials repeatedly rejected the requests.

In its petition filed with the Supreme Court, the ACLJ told the court that St. Tammany Parish engaged in "blatant anti-religious discrimination" by denying the Christian Coalition access to school facilities. At the same time, the ACLJ told the court that the school district permits thousands of uses of its school facilities - including everything from homeowners association meetings - to meetings of the Folsom Native Plant Society - to dog obedience training classes.

Just last week - on June 11th - the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in a similar equal access case. By a vote of 6-to-3 the Supreme Court found that a federal appeals court was wrong when it prevented a New York Christian youth group from using a public school facility after hours. Roth said the decision in the case of Good News Club v. Milford Central School paved the way for today's Supreme Court action in the St. Tammany case.

The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest law firm and educational organization that focuses on constitutional issues and religious liberty work. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and its web site address is www.aclj.org.