Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School Dist.

• Citation: 959 F.2d 381
• Decision Date: 18 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 470,D,470
• Parties: 73 Ed. Law Rep. 915 LAMB'S CHAPEL and John Steigerwald, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CENTER MORICHES UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT and Louise Tramontano, in her official capacity as president of the Board of Education for Center Moriches Schools, Defendants-Appellees, New York State Attorney General's Office, Intervenor. ocket 91-7718.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

Page 381

959 F.2d 381

73 Ed. Law Rep. 915

LAMB'S CHAPEL and John Steigerwald, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CENTER MORICHES UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT and Louise

Tramontano, in her official capacity as president

of the Board of Education for Center

Moriches Schools, Defendants-Appellees,

New York State Attorney General's Office, Intervenor.

No. 470, Docket 91-7718.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued Nov. 4, 1991.

Decided March 18, 1992.

Mark N. Troobnick, Washington, D.C. (Jordan W. Lorence, Concerned Women for America Legal Foundation, Jay A. Sekulow, Walter M. Weber, Free Speech Advocates, of counsel), for plaintiffs-appellants.

Harold G. Trabold, Patchogue, N.Y. (Dranitzke, Lechtrecker & Trabold, Patchogue, N.Y., August H. Englert, Fiedelman & Hoefling, Jericho, N.Y., of counsel) for defendants-appellees Center Moriches Union Free School Dist. and Louise Tramontano.

Jeffrey I. Slonim, Asst. Atty. Gen., New York City (Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen., Lawrence S. Kahn, Deputy Sol. Gen., Atty. Gen.'s Office, State of N.Y., of counsel), for intervenor New York State Atty. Gen.

Jay Worona, Albany, N.Y. (Cynthia P. Fletcher, New York State School Boards Ass'n, Inc., of counsel) for amicus curiae New York State School Boards Ass'n, Inc.

Before CARDAMONE, PIERCE and MINER, Circuit Judges.

MINER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs-appellants Lamb's Chapel and John Steigerwald appeal from a summary judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Wexler, J.) in favor of defendants-appellees Center Moriches Union Free School District and Louise Tramontano, as President of the Board of Education of the School District. Lamb's Chapel is an Evangelical Christian church, incorporated under the New York not-for-profit corporation law, located at Center Moriches, Suffolk County, New York. John Steigerwald is the Pastor of Lamb's Chapel. The School District is a subdivision of the State of New York duly organized to provide public education in Suffolk County. This action was brought to secure declaratory and injunctive relief as redress for the refusal of the School District to allow the use of School District facilities, during non-school hours, for the showing of a series of religious films. The School District relied on a New York statute as well as a local rule in denying use of the facilities.

In granting summary judgment, the district court determined that the School District's facilities were "limited public forums," which had not been opened to religious groups by policy or practice. Accordingly, the court concluded that the facilities properly were barred to the plaintiffs in accordance with the New York Education Law and the School District's own Local Rules.

On appeal, appellants contend that the School District, having created public forums by policy and practice, has excluded speech from the forum on the basis of content. This, they urge, is violative of the First Amendment. Appellants also contend that the denial to them of equal access to the School District's facilities, based on the religious content of their speech, is a violation of the Establishment Clause. Finally, they contend that a prior decision of this Court upholding the New York statute that allows the exclusion of religious groups from school district facilities in the absence of a practice of opening the facilities to other religious organizations is erroneous and should not be followed. Finding no merit in any of these contentions, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

BACKGROUND

By application dated November 19, 1988, Pastor Steigerwald sought the use of rooms in the Center Moriches High School for Lamb's Chapel Sunday morning services and for Sunday School. The hours specified were 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., and the time period indicated was one year, beginning in December of 1988. The application was made on a form provided by the School District and entitled "Application For Use of School District Facilities." Attached to the application form was a sheet entitled "Rules and Regulations for Community Use of School Facilities." Rule No. 7 was set out as follows: "The school premises shall not be used by any group for religious purposes." Above his signature on the application form, Pastor Steigerwald indicated that he had read the Rules and Regulations and agreed to comply fully with them "excluding # 7."

Accompanying the application, and dated November 21, 1988, was a letter to Alice Schoener, School District Clerk, from the Pastor. In the letter, Pastor Steigerwald introduced himself and his Church and noted that their "paramount objective [was] to share the love of Christ in very real and practical ways." He also indicated that he had taken a tour of the Center Moriches High School to "see if the school had adequate facilities for a movie series on the family that will be free of charge and open for the community to attend." Pastor By letter dated November 23, 1988 on behalf of the School District, Ms. Schoener advised Pastor Steigerwald that the application "requesting the use of the high school for your Sunday services" was denied, citing Local Rule No. 7 as well as the State Education law. Referring to scheduling problems, Ms. Schoener further advised that she was "very much afraid that, even without the prohibited religious activity aspect, your request would have to be denied." Undeterred, Pastor Steigerwald pressed forward on December 16, 1988 with another application for use of the high school facilities, the second application being limited to one evening per week for five weeks. The hours designated were 7:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. and the activity specified was "Family emphasis & Movie presentation by Dr. James Dobson." The purpose set forth was "To open up the film to share some pracital [sic] insights about the family." The facilities requested were the auditorium or gymnasium.

                Steigerwald stated in his letter that he had met with the high school principal, who was concerned that the content of the film be nonsectarian in view of the constitutional requirement for the "separation of church and state."   The letter continued:  "Those who espouse such a ... view are seriously misinformed.   Enclosed you will find several articles that correctly interpret the law that is presently being upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States of America."
                

In response to the second application Ms. Schoener wrote to Pastor Steigerwald on January 18, 1989 to request "a more detailed description of your proposed use (including a brochure describing the film)," noting that she was "hard pressed to determine from your description, what the five-part movie would represent" but "suspect[ed] that it would certainly have religious connotations." In the letter requesting additional information, Ms. Schoener observed that "[t]he district has not, in the past, allowed the high school auditorium to be used by any group primarily for its own purposes."

A brochure describing the film, "Turn Your Heart Toward Home," was forwarded by Pastor Steigerwald to Ms. Schoener on February 2, 1989. According to the brochure, the film comes in a 6-part series "every parent should see." In the film, Dr. James Dobson, said to be an expert on family life, "reminds parents of society's slide toward humanism--the undermining influences of radio, television, films and the press--which can only be counterbalanced by a loving home where Christian values are instilled from an early age." In her response dated February 8, 1989, Ms. Schoener advised Pastor Steigerwald as follows: "This film does appear to be church related and therefore your request must be refused." Additionally, Ms. Schoener denied a request made by Pastor Steigerwald on February 2, 1989, for use of the elementary or high school on Friday or Saturday evenings "for 'non-religious purposes' such as volley ball." The reason given was: "We do not schedule outside organizations to use the facilities on Fridays and Saturdays."

Pastor Steigerwald continued to press his petition. On October 11, 1989, he submitted yet another application for the use of Center Moriches School District facilities to show the same film series, described in this application as a "Family oriented movie from a Christian perspective." The stated purpose of Lamb's Chapel was "To invite community of Center Moriches to view this very practical movie for family raising." Once again, the use of an auditorium for five week days over a five-week period was sought. This last application met with a terse response by Ms. Schoener: "This film does appear to be church related and therefore your request must be refused."

The complaint in this action was filed on February 9, 1990 and includes four causes of action: violation of the Freedom of Speech and Assembly Clauses; violation of the Equal Protection Clause; violation of the Free Exercise Clause; and violation of the Establishment Clause. As to each cause, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants' actions were taken under color of state law and in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction to compel the School District to allow the use of the District's facilities was denied by the district court in a Memorandum and Order dated May 16, 1990. The court reviewed the facts presented on the motion as well as the applicable legal and constitutional principles and concluded that plaintiffs had "not shown either a substantial likelihood of success on the merits or sufficiently serious questions going to the merits." Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School Dist., 736 F.Supp. 1247, 1254 (E.D.N.Y.1990). An appeal to this Court from the Order denying the preliminary injunction was withdrawn, and the matter was returned to the district court for further proceedings. Thereafter, the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment and the School District cross-moved for the...