ACLJ Files Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Against School District in Arizona

June 16, 2011

3 min read

Religious Liberty

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(Phoenix, AZ) -- The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, Arizona on behalf of a Scottsdale resident who was told he could not advertise his summer camp for kids because it was too religious.

"This is a case about religious discrimination and protecting the First Amendment rights of our client," said Kevin Theriot, Senior Associate Counsel of the ACLJ whose office is in Atlanta. "Our client was unfairly singled out and denied equal treatment - a move that was both discriminatory and unconstitutional."

The ACLJ filed suit today on behalf of Joseph Hills, president of an organization called "A Little Sonshine from Arizona" - a non-profit educational corporation that had planned to conduct a summer camp for kids and advertise through the Scottsdale Unified School District No. 48. According to the complaint, the school district distributed literature from non-profit organizations to students as a community service. Many organizations, including the YMCA, advertised summer programs and youth activities during the 1999-2000 school year through the school district, but Hills was denied equal access to this community service and was not permitted to advertise his summer camp because two of the nineteen courses included Bible stories.

The complaint contends that school officials told Hills they would consider permitting the distribution of literature advertising his camp if he removed the descriptions of the Bible classes, removed graphics of the Bible and of a dove carrying an olive branch, and included a disclaimer that stated that the school did not endorse the material.

"It is clear that the school district singled out this summer camp and took action that was discriminatory," said Theriot. "The law is very clear: if you permit a wide variety of organizations to advertise their summer camp and youth activities, you cannot prohibit an organization from doing the same just because school officials think the content of the brochure is too religious."

The suit contends that because Hills was not permitted to advertise in schools, he has had to cancel one camp session, refund thousands of dollars in deposits, and is struggling to salvage the rest of the summer program.

The complaint contends that the actions of the school district violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and also violate provisions of the Arizona Constitution. The suit names as defendants the Scottsdale Unified School District No. 48, the Superintendent, two Assistant Superintendents, and a Communications Specialist for the school district.

The suit requests that the court declare the school district's literature distribution policy unconstitutional and requests that the court prohibit the defendants from engaging in discriminatory actions in the future.

The ACLJ is an international public interest law firm focusing on First Amendment law and on pro-family, pro-life, and pro-liberty cases. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and its Web site address is www.aclj.org. -- End