Doyle v. Taxpayers for Public Education
States may not discriminate against religious organizations
The Douglas County Board of Education's Choice Scholarship Program offers tuition scholarships to eligible students who attend qualifying religious or non-religious private schools. The Colorado Supreme Court struck down the program as violating the Colorado constitution's prohibition of any state support of religion. School choice proponents petit ...
Armstrong v. Kadas
Supporting school choice for all – Christians included
PLF represents parents of a child in a faith-based school and an association of Christian schools in a challenge to a regulation implementing Montana's scholarship tax credit law. The regulation forbids religiously affiliated schools from participating in the tax credit program. PLF challenged the regulation as violating the First Amendment's prote ...
Hardie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association
Ban on felon-coaches is not racial discrimination
Dominic Hardie is a high school basketball coach who is prohibited from coaching in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sponsored tournaments because he is a convicted felon. He sued the NCAA on the theory that the felon-ban violates Title II of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in places of public accommodatio ...
School Board of Palm Beach County, Florida
Unions attack–but can’t kill–Florida charter schools
The School Board of Palm Beach County illegally denied South Palm Beach Charter School's application to start a new charter school, claiming that the school lacks "innovation" and fails to fulfill the state charter statute's requirement that charter schools "encourage the use of innovative learning methods." The charter school applicant appealed to ...
Siena Corporation v. Mayor and City Council of Rockville, Maryland
Courts must not determine a law’s constitutionality based solely on government assurances of good will
Siena Corporation wanted to build a self-storage facility in Rockville, Maryland, but was thwarted when the city, at the behest of NIMBY neighbors, adopted a last-minute zoning change preventing the project. Siena sued but the district court upheld the zoning change as a "rational" exercise of the city's police power. Siena appealed, arguing that t ...
E.L. v. Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation
Racially discriminatory law keeps talented ten-year-old boy from staying in his charter school
As part of a decades-old desegregation lawsuit settlement in St. Louis, Missouri, the Voluntary Inderdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC) enacted a policy for city and county schools that prohibits African-American students who live in the county from transferring into magnet and charter schools within the St. Louis city limits. White students may tr ...
Robinson v. Wentzell
Race-based quotas in Connecticut schools are unconstitutional and hurt Black and Hispanic students
Hartford, Connecticut, runs a number of world-class magnet schools. Their success has led to the use of a lottery to decide who can attend. But under a state-mandated racial quota, enrollment must be at least 25 percent white or Asian. This means Black and Hispanic students are turned away if their admission would push minority enrollment above 75 ...
Linden v. South Dakota High School Activities Association
School’s “girls-only” dance team policy is a constitutional hustle
Fifteen-year-old Freddie Linden of North Sioux Falls, South Dakota can now lace up his dancing shoes as part of his school's competitive dance team. The accomplished dancer already competes nationally on private dance teams, but the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) established competitive dance as a "female-only" sport and p ...
D.M. & Z.G. v. Minnesota State High School League
Discrimination dance: “Girls only” school dance team is unconstitutional
When 16-year-old Dmitri Moua discovered dancing, he found a new way to be a part of a team and build his self-confidence. But when he wanted to join his high school's competitive dance team, he was denied because he is a boy. Dmitri's school is in the Minnesota State High School League—whose bylaws declare competitive dance a "girls only" sport. ...