A New Mexico federal district court yesterday dismissed a suit by several recent Air Force Academy graduates, the father of a currently enrolled cadet, and an Air Force recruiter. The suit, originally filed by Academy alum Mikey Weinstein, claims that the Air Force Academy has a policy of evangelizing and proselytizing cadets, that the the Air Force's Interim Guidelines on Free Exercise of Religion were unconstitutional and that recruiters are both subject to religious proselytization and proselytize recruits. (See prior postings 1, 2 .)
In Weinstein v. United States Air Force, (D NM, Oct. 27, 2006) the court found that some of the plaintiffs lack standing because they have graduated from the Academy. As to others, they "do not allege ... that there is 'a real and immediate threat' that they will have 'personal contact' with the alleged Establishment Clause violations...." The Air Force recruiter's claims were barred on several grounds, including statute of limitations, failure to exhaust administrative remedies and the speculative nature of future injuries. Plaintiffs' attempt to obtain a declaratory judgment on the constitutionality of the Air Force Guidelines was dismissed because of delay in seeking to add the claim.
Claims against the Secretary of the Air Force were dismissed without prejudice. The court suggested that any future suit raising the same claims probably should be filed in federal court in Colorado, Virginia, or Washington, D.C. instead of New Mexico. The Air Force Times covers the story.
