School officials had likely violated the First Amendment by doing so, court ruled
A U.S. federal judge has ordered a school district in Hellertown, Pennsylvania to permit the After School Satan Club to meet in the school premises.
In The Satanic Temple Inc. v. Saucon Valley School District, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU-Pennsylvania, and U.S. law firm Dechert sued the Saucon Valley school district on behalf of the Satanic Temple after the school banned a newly founded student club – the After School Satan Club – from meeting within district facilities. The Satanic Temple was the student club’s sponsor.
Saucon Valley school officials had initially approved the club and only rescinded their approval after receiving complaints from parents and community members on a daily basis – including an anonymous voicemail where a person threatened to “shoot everybody”, the ABA Journal reported.
The Satanic Temple alleged that the Saucon Valley school district violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by banning the After School Satan Club from organising within district facilities. U.S. District Judge John M. Gallagher of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania agreed.
While the school district argued that it rescinded its approval of the student club for failing to clarify that the club was not sponsored by the district, the court rejected this excuse and ruled that banning the After School Satan Club was ultimately “based on The Satanic Temple’s controversial views on religion and the community’s negative reactions thereto”, thus incompatible with the First Amendment, which guaranteed free speech even or “particularly when” the content is “controversial or convenient”.
Gallagher issued a preliminary injunction to allow the After School Satan Club to meet within district facilities while litigation continued.
The Satanic Temple’s lawsuit against Saucon Valley School District said that the After School Satan Club does not worship Satan but regards him as a “literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny, championing the human mind and spirit, and seeking justice and egalitarianism for all”. The temple added that it only sponsored after-school clubs in campuses where religious groups were already operating, the ABA Journal reported.
