April 10, 2003

(San Diego, CA) - The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, announced today that a federal court has determined that the San Diego Unified School District discriminated against a church after school officials repeatedly rejected requests to advertise seminars dealing with parenting and school violence.

"This is an important victory for our client and the constitution," said Stuart J. Roth, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ, which filed suit. "This is a case where the school district discriminated against the church by treating it differently than other community organizations. At a time when the San Diego community was dealing with the trauma and tragedy of school violence, the school district rejected a legitimate request from the church to reach out and help. The court correctly determined that this kind of treatment was not only wrong, but unconstitutional."

The ACLJ filed suit in October 2001 in U.S. District Court in San Diego on behalf of Reverend James G. Jerpseth, Pastor of the Atonement Lutheran Church in San Diego. The suit contended that Rev. Jerpseth repeatedly requested permission in 2001 to post promotional materials on bulletin boards at local schools - advertising a series of seminars that were designed to combat school violence and address other issues facing parents and students. The seminars included titles like "How to Spot a Troubled Kid: Stopping the Violence" and "Be a Better Parent."

The lawsuit contended that the school district rejected the requests from Rev. Jerpseth because of a policy that prohibited material containing the name of a religious organization from being posted or distributed in the school district.

In a decision issued on February 18, 2003 and modified on April 8, 2003, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey T. Miller granted an ACLJ motion for summary judgment with respect to the posting of the materials on school bulletin boards within the school district. The court said: "This policy would prohibit a religious group access to address a topic addressed by a secular group, even on a topic secular in nature and supportive of school educational goals. Such a policy cannot survive constitutional scrutiny."

"We will now contact the school district and ask them to abide by the findings of the court - to permit our client to post flyers advertising seminars that will be beneficial to the community - especially students and parents," said Roth. "While the court declared the school district's policy to be unconstitutional with respect to the posting of the material, it did not rule on the constitutionality of the portion of the policy that prohibits the distribution of the materials. We will continue to litigate that portion of the case and ultimately believe the entire policy - including the restriction on distributing materials - will be declared unconstitutional."

The ACLJ is an international public interest law firm focusing on constitutional law. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and its web site address is www.aclj.org.