School's Withdrawal Of Speaking Invite Poses No 1st Amendment Problem

Last week, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in an opinion short on facts, rejected a First Amendment claim in Carpenter v. Dillon Elementary School Dist. 10, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 20364 (Sept. 19, 2005). Fortunately, the Rutherford Institute's website gives us additional facts. The District 10 School Board originally approved inviting an evangelical Christian motivational speaker to appear at a voluntary school assembly. The school required that he not discuss his religious faith or the religious youth rally scheduled for that evening. Subsequently the board withdrew the invitation, concerned that the assembly might violate church-state separation requirements. The Ninth Circuit upheld the school board's decision, finding that the speaker had not been denied "the type of governmental benefit or privilege the deprivation of which can trigger First Amendment scrutiny".