3rd Circuit Reinstates Challenge To School's Policy Banning Religious Music

Last week the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Stratechuk v. Board of Education, South Orange-Maplewood School District, (3d Cir., Oct. 5, 2006), reinstated a lawsuit challenging the banning of religious music by a New Jersey school district. The lower court had dismissed the suit against the school district after reviewing the school's official policy on music that was a matter of public record. The Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff's complaint alleges that the school's actual policy was more restrictive than the one that was publicly available. The complaint alleged a categorical ban on exclusively religious music, enacted with the express purpose of sending a message of disapproval of religion. If that is proven, it would support a challenge on First Amendment grounds. Saturday's New York Times reported on the decision.