US Supreme Court declines to hear case of school graduation at church auditorium
Monday, Jun 16, 2014
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday to let stand a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruling in Elmbrook School District v. Doe, which prohibited a public school district from renting a church facility for graduation ceremonies:
“Church buildings should not be treated like toxic warehouses simply because they normally house religious activities. That has never been the intent of the First Amendment. On the contrary, as Justices Scalia and Thomas remark in their dissent, the Elmbrook School District did not violate the Constitution, and the 7th Circuit’s bad decision in this case clearly conflicts with the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which stated that mere ‘offense…does not equate to coercion.’ For these and other reasons, we hope the Supreme Court will clearly affirm in a future case that government neutrality toward religion is not achieved by treating it like asbestos in the ceiling tiles of society.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
“Church buildings should not be treated like toxic warehouses simply because they normally house religious activities. That has never been the intent of the First Amendment. On the contrary, as Justices Scalia and Thomas remark in their dissent, the Elmbrook School District did not violate the Constitution, and the 7th Circuit’s bad decision in this case clearly conflicts with the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which stated that mere ‘offense…does not equate to coercion.’ For these and other reasons, we hope the Supreme Court will clearly affirm in a future case that government neutrality toward religion is not achieved by treating it like asbestos in the ceiling tiles of society.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
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