On Appeal, CEF Wins First Amendment Victory in Maryland
by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
August 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A federal appeals court says a Maryland school district cannot exclude Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) from a program that allows private groups to send flyers home with students. Officials in the Montgomery County Public Schools argued that handing out flyers inviting children to join CEF's after-school Good News Clubs, which feature Bible stories, songs, and games for children, could be construed as an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the district's policy wrongly permitted school officials to reject any flyers they did not like instead of exercising viewpoint neutrality.
Attorney Tim Tracey of the Christian Legal Society has been representing CEF in the case. He argues that, although CEF does offer children the opportunity to join clubs where they sing songs, play games and hear stories that are biblically based, allowing the Christian club's flyers to be handed out to students does not constitute an establishment of religion by the school any more than it implies an endorsement when other groups' flyers are circulated.
Also, Tracey points out, "the flyers that [CEF has been] asking to distribute just have the date, time, and the location of the Good News Club. And they also have a parental permission slip." Nevertheless, he says, while Montgomery County Public Schools allowed other private groups to send flyers home with students, the district was apparently singling out the Christian group for unequal treatment.
In so doing, the Christian lawyer contends, the Maryland school district put itself on the wrong side of the law. And two years ago, he notes, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, ruling in June of 2004 that the Montgomery County schools' refusal to distribute CEF flyers was unconstitutional religious discrimination.
But even though CEF and its attorneys had won on appeal, the matter was not over. Before all the details could be finally resolved, the Montgomery County Public School District changed its policy to one that was ostensibly compliant with the First Amendment but that continued to exclude CEF. The attorneys for CEF amended their clients' complaint and moved ahead; however, at that time the district court found no constitutional violation in the schools' new policy.
The Christian Legal Society Center appealed again, and this time the Fourth Circuit ruled in CEF's favor. The court held that the school district, in implementing its policy on take-home flyers unequally, had failed to exercise "viewpoint neutrality" and had indeed breached CEF's constitutional rights.
"That kind of system violates the First Amendment," Tracey asserts, "because [it allows school officials to unlawfully] exclude a viewpoint if they disagree with it -- and that's what's happening in this case."
The Montgomery County school officials "disagreed with CEF's religious viewpoint, Tracey adds, "so they just decided they wouldn't hand out [the Good News Club's] flyer." But any time a school district "opens up an avenue for public expression, he says, "it cannot exclude certain people or organizations merely because their viewpoint is religious."
The Christian Legal Society is pleased with the outcome of the case, particularly for the sake of Child Evangelism Fellowship and its supporters. Among these supporters were the National Legal Foundation, which had "amicus" standing in the case, and the Alliance Defense Fund, which provided partial funding.
