6th Circuit: Kentucky High School Athletic Rule Does Not Discriminate On Basis of Religion

In Seger v. Kentucky High School Athletic Association, (6th Cir., Dec. 21, 2011), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a bylaw of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association designed to prevent member schools from recruiting student athletes by "paying" them to play at the school. The rule limits merit-based scholarships to 25% of tuition and bars accepting aid from sources not under control of the school or its governing board.  Plaintiffs argued in part that the bylaw is discriminatory on the basis of religion because it groups Catholic schools into one classification.  The court rejected the argument, concluding that the bylaw uses the grouping merely as a way to group Catholic schools into a broader category of non-public schools and to define their governing board as the archdiocese in which they are located.