8th Circuit Finds No Standing In Parochial School Busing Case

In Pucket v. Hot Springs School District, (8th Cir., May 23, 2008), the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals held that plaintiffs lack standing to pursue their 1st and 14th Amendment challenge to a South Dakota school district's temporary termination of busing of students to Bethesda Lutheran School. Before a 2003 change in state law, the school district lacked statutory authority to provide busing to private and parochial schools. After the change in the law, plaintiffs never actually requested the school district to resume busing. The decision affirms the district court's dismissal without commenting on the merits of the underlying claim which had in part been reached by the lower court. (See prior posting.)