Education
May 31, 2001
Suit Proceeds in School Ban of Religious Clubs
SANTA ANA - A former Mission Viejo High School student may proceed with a lawsuit challenging a ban on on-campus religious clubs, now that the state Supreme Court has let stand an appellate decision reinstating his case.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Dennis Choate threw out Justin Vanschoick's lawsuit against Saddleback Valley Unified School District in 1997, a year after it was filed. Choate agreed with the district that the club in question, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, violated separation-of-church-and-state principles because faculty helped operate it. Vanschoick v. Saddleback Valley Unified School District, G022813 (Orange County Super. Ct., filed 1996).
The 4th District Court of Appeal, however, reversed Choate's decision in February this year, and the Supreme Court last week rejected the school district's request for review.
In reversing Choate, the appellate court cited Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, a case in which a bible-study group successfully invoked the federal Equal Access Act to gain club status at a public school.
The bible group argued that, although the organization was unrelated to school curriculum, it was a community-service group - making it eligible for club status under the Equal Access Act.
Vanschoick's lawsuit is expected to return to Choate's courtroom within 60 days, according to attorneys involved in the case.
"It's time for the district to wake up and smell the coffee," John A. Mendoza, attorney for Vanschoick and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, said.
School district attorney J. Michael Declues, managing partner of Walsh & Declues in Santa Ana, said his client has yet to determine its next course of action.
The district could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, proceed with the fight against Vanschoick's lawsuit in Superior Court or agree to allow the Fellowship of Christian Athletes on campus, sources say.
Declues has insisted, however, that the faculty's involvement in running the religious club violates the First Amendment.
The Equal Access Act requires all public school districts that receive federal funding to provide all on-campus clubs, despite possible political and religious affiliations, equal access to campus resources, Mendoza said.
The Key Club and the Girls League Club, for example, are not curriculum-related but are service organizations that have on-campus club status, Mendoza said.
Declues would not comment further on the school district's position.
But University of Southern California law professor and constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky said the district could be required to extend equal access to the group or face having to ban all clubs not related to curriculum from campus.
"The Equal Access Act says religious student clubs should have the same right to meet on school property that secular clubs have," Chemerinsky said. "The rule under the Equal Access Act is equal access."
Staff Writer
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