8th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In School Busing Case

On Friday, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Pucket v. Hot Springs School District. In the case, a South Dakota federal district court rejected a claim by students attending Bethesda Lutheran School and their parents that the state's temporary termination of busing of students to the parochial school violated their free exercise, speech and equal protection rights and violated the establishment clause. (See prior posting.) An audio recording of the oral argument is available from the 8th Circuit's website. Arguing for the students and their parents was the Becket Fund's Roger Severino who contended that South Dakota's Blaine amendments are unconstitutional under the federal Constitution, though the court's questioning focused instead on a number of factual details in the case.