ALLENTOWN – A Northampton County school district argues that First Amendment protection is “not absolute” in litigation brought by a Massachusetts-based satanic religious group who sued it after initially being granted – and then ultimately being denied – the ability to convene an After School Satan Club at a local middle school.
The Satanic Temple, Inc. of Salem, Mass. first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on March 30 versus Saucon Valley School District, of Hellertown.
“The Satanic Temple (TST) sponsors the After School Satan Club (ASSC) at a number of public schools across the country to provide young people with an alternative to other religious clubs that meet on campus after school. The Saucon Valley School District has intentionally opened up its facilities for after-school use by a variety of organizations, including the Good News Club, a Christian group sponsored by a local church and Child Evangelism Fellowship,” the suit said.
“In February, TST applied to hold monthly after-school gatherings at the Saucon Valley Middle School, where the Good News Club also meets. Although the District initially approved TST’s application – correctly explaining in a Facebook post and email to parents that, ‘by law, the District cannot discriminate among groups wishing to use the SVSD facilities’ – it quickly bowed to the ensuing public outcry and rescinded its approval.”
The suit added the District claimed that the uproar, which included “a threat of violence against the middle school later traced to a man in North Carolina, was caused by TST” – and further, that the District accused TST of “violating District policy by failing to clearly disassociate the Club from the District.”
“Pointing to an ASSC permission slip distributed online, the District asserted that the document’s explicit disclaimer, which stated that the ASSC ‘is not an activity of the school or the School District,’ was not large enough. According to the District, it was this purported failure of font size – and not the District’s email to parents, its Facebook post, or the discriminatory beliefs of District officials or others who objected to the ASSC – that caused the disturbance and prompted the threat. Rather than simply asking TST to change the supposedly deficient disclaimer, however, the District banned the ASSC from using school facilities for the rest of the school year. This decision to rescind approval of TST’s application and ban the ASSC from using school facilities was impermissibly based on TST’s viewpoint and religion,” the suit stated.
“The District’s claim that it rescinded approval of TST’s application because the ASSC’s permission slip violated District policy is plainly a pretext to exclude a controversial group from District facilities. That the District’s approval of the ASSC’s use of school facilities caused controversy is of no moment: Under the First Amendment, the District can no more deny the ASSC access to its facilities than it could eject an after-school Muslim or Jewish club, or the Good News Club, from District schools due to SVSD officials’ own bias or due to disruption caused by those who oppose the religion or viewpoint of the clubs.”
UPDATE
The District filed a response on April 11, arguing TST should be denied an injunction, due to its First Amendment rights allegedly not being applicable to this situation.
“The District’s decision to initially approve TST’s application to rent space in the District’s Middle School for TST’s After School Satan Club was consistent with the District’s School Board policy governing the use of school facilities, as well as the law. So too was the District’s decision to rescind that approval eight days later, following its discovery that TST had violated the District’s Board Policy’s advertising restriction on social media, a choice by TST that had a cataclysmic effect on the District’s operations. The District approved TST’s application on Feb. 16, 2023. Subsequent to that approval, but unknown to the District, TST engaged in a provocative social media campaign misleading District parents and community members, and even strangers across the country, that the District was sponsoring the Club,” per the District’s response filing.
“This was an intentional violation of the District’s Facility Use Policy, which states that, ‘When advertising or promoting activities held at school facilities, individuals and community groups shall clearly communicate that the activities are not being sponsored by the school district.’ TST’s actions misled community members and people across the country to think that the Club was being sponsored by the District, not just letting the Club meet in its building. As a result, the District received an avalanche of emails and phone calls from parents and community members, confused and concerned that the District was sponsoring a club ‘for Satan. Even so, the District, unaware of TST’s social media campaign and recognizing the Club’s First Amendment right to convene in District facilities like other groups do, continued making preparations for the Club’s use of its facilities.”
According to the District, it then received an anonymous voicemail from an individual who threatened a school shooting because of the District’s kids that “have fun at the school Satan club.”
“In response, the District, its private security force, the local police department, and the FBI jumped into action to ensure the safety of the District’s students and staff. That necessitated the closure of the District’s schools for an entire day while the threat could be investigated. Still, despite shouldering the enormous responsibility to protect students and staff, the District continued communicating with TST to make arrangements for the Club’s meeting,” the response continued.
“Meanwhile, TST continued to post on social media, advertising that the District was ‘hosting’ the Club. Only after the District was closed and the threat was being investigated, did the District first become aware of TST’s social media campaign that violated the District’s Facility Use Policy, a violation that ultimately resulted in a substantial interference with the District’s educational program. At that point, the District was left with no choice. To ensure that its educational program would not be compromised further by threats to the lives of its students and staff, the District rescinded TST’s facility use approval, as it was entitled to do under its Facility Use Policy.”
As a result, the District says, it is currently revising its Facility Use Policy and, under the proposed new version, all outside groups, including TST, “will be able to rent space from the District subject to the revised time, place and manner restrictions”, which the District believes are needed to ensure the safety of students and staff.
“[It is] something which this incident has made necessary lest the use of the District’s facilities by outside groups again interfere the District’s educational mission. The District’s restriction of TST’s use of its facilities was, thus, reasonable under its old policy. And because TST will be able to apply to use District facilities under the new policy, like other groups would similarly be able to do, TST’s motion for a preliminary injunction should be denied,” per the response.
For counts of violating the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s Free Speech, Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, plus Article I, Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the plaintiff is seeking the following relief:
• An order declaring that defendant’s decision to rescind approval for TST’s application and prohibit the ASSC from using school facilities is unconstitutional under the Free Speech Clause, Free Exercise Clause, and Establishment Clause of the First Amendment;
• An order declaring that defendant’s Policy 707 (governing “Use of School Facilities”) is facially vague and overbroad;
• An order preliminarily and, thereafter, permanently enjoining defendant and its officers, agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, servants, employees, successors, and all other persons or entities in active concert or privity or participation with them, from continuing to unlawfully deny plaintiff access to District facilities, which makes clear that the District:
1. Must allow the ASSC to meet at the Saucon Valley Middle School at the times and on the days previously approved by the District;
2. Must allow the ASSC to make up the missed March meeting and any other missed meetings;
3. Must distribute ASSC’s permission slip for students to take home in the same manner that it has previously distributed permission slips for the Good News Club;
4. Shall not impose any other unconstitutional conditions on plaintiff or the ASSC, including but not limited to a security fee based on any anticipated reaction, protest, or opposition to the ASSC’s meetings; and
5. Shall not retaliate against TST, the ASSC, or any member or attendee of ASSC meetings for objecting to defendant’s unlawful practices and bringing this action— including with respect to TST’s future use of District facilities beyond this school year.
• Entry of judgment for plaintiff against defendant for compensatory damages and/or nominal damages in an amount to be determined by the Court;
• An award, from defendant to plaintiff, of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in connection with this action, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1988;
• An order retaining this Court’s jurisdiction of this matter to enforce the terms of the Court’s orders; and
• Such further and different relief as is just and proper.
The plaintiff is represented by Noah Shaw Becker and Will W. Sachse of Dechert, LLP in Philadelphia, plus Richard Tsai Ting, Sara J. Rose, Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver of the American Civil Liberties Union, in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.
The defendant is represented by Mark W. Fitzgerald, Beth N. Shore and William Christian Moffitt of Fox Rothschild, in Blue Bell.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 5:23-cv-01244
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com