ACLJ Files Federal Suit against Kentucky for Denying Scholarship Funds to Students Who Study Religion.

Business Editors

LEXINGTON, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2002

The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed suit in federal court in Lexington, Kentucky charging the state of Kentucky with religious discrimination by prohibiting state scholarship funds to be used by students who pursue a degree in religious studies.

"The state of Kentucky is systematically discriminating against students who want to pursue a degree in religious studies by denying them state scholarship funds," said Francis J. Manion, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ which has filed suit challenging the state. "The state has in place a policy that discriminates against students who choose to pursue a degree in religious studies. If a student meets the residency and academic requirements needed to receive scholarship funds, those funds cannot be withheld because a student decides to study religion. Such a policy is not only unfair, it is unconstitutional as well."

The ACLJ filed suit today in U.S. District Court in Lexington on behalf of Woods Nash, a junior at Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky. The suit contends that Nash was awarded $2,900 under the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program in his freshman and sophomore years. But when Nash declared Philosophy/Religion to be his major in October of this year, he was notified by the state that funding would cease - according to the suit - because his course of study violates the rules and regulations of the KEES program.

The policy specifically states that Kentucky may not grant financial assistance to a student who is "enrolled in a program of study leading to a degree in theology, divinity, or religious education."

The suit contends that the policy violates the constitutional rights of Nash who has been denied further scholarship awards that total more than $2,000 - money that was to have been awarded to him over the remainder of his college term.

The lawsuit names as defendants Kentucky Governor Paul E. Patton, the Executive Director of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, and the authority's Director of the Division of Student and Administrative Services. The suit contends that the policy violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and requests that the court declare the policy unconstitutional and grant injunctive relief to stop the continued use of the discriminatory policy.

The ACLJ has had success in the past challenging policies like the one in place in Kentucky. In July 2002, a federal appeals court concluded that the state of Washington engaged in religious discrimination by denying a student a state scholarship because the student majored in Pastoral Ministries. The appeals court panel said the state of Washington did not have a compelling reason to withhold the scholarship funds and said the state's policy lacked neutrality and concluded that the state impermissibly deprived the student of his scholarship.

The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest law firm specializing in constitutional law. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and its web site address is www.aclj.org.