In Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders, (2d Cir., Sept. 9, 2025), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Christian school was entitled to a preliminary injunction reinstating its membership in the Vermont Principal's Association. The court summarized its decision:
Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited a girls’ playoff basketball game to avoid playing a team with a transgender athlete. The school believes that forcing girls to compete against biological males would affirm that those males are females, in violation of its religious beliefs. In response to the forfeit, the Vermont Principals’ Association (“VPA”) expelled the school from all state-sponsored extracurricular activities.
Plaintiffs Mid Vermont and several students and parents sued, bringing a Free Exercise claim and seeking a preliminary injunction to reinstate the school’s VPA membership and for other relief. The district court ... denied the motion. We conclude that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the VPA’s expulsion of Mid Vermont was not neutral because it displayed hostility toward the school’s religious beliefs; Plaintiffs are therefore likely to prevail on their Free Exercise claim.
MyNBC5 reports on the decision.
