Doe v. Porter

• Decision Date: 08 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. 1:01-CV-115.,1:01-CV-115.
• Citation: 188 F.Supp.2d 904
• Parties: John DOE, Individually; Mary Roe, Individually, and Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Sue PORTER, Individually, and as Superintendent of the Rhea County School System; and Rhea County Board of Education, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee

188 F.Supp.2d 904

John DOE, Individually; Mary Roe, Individually, and Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Sue PORTER, Individually, and as Superintendent of the Rhea County School System; and Rhea County Board of Education, Defendants.

No. 1:01-CV-115.

United States District Court, E.D. Tennessee, at Chattanooga.

February 8, 2002.

R Stephen Doughty, Weed, Hubbard, Berry & Doughty, Joseph H Johnston, Nashville, TN, for plaintiffs.

Charles W Cagle, Lewis, King, Krieg, Waldrop & Catron, P.C., Michael E Evans, Davies & Humphreys, Nashville, TN, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

EDGAR, Chief Judge.

Rhea County, Tennessee, is no stranger to religious controversy in its public schools. In 1925, the Rhea County Courthouse was the site of the well known "Scopes" or "Monkey" trial, wherein high school teacher John Scopes was tried for violating a Tennessee statute making it a misdemeanor to teach "evolution theory" in the State's public schools. The trial pitted William Jennings Bryan, the "Great Commoner," representing the State, against Clarence Darrow for the defense. The legacy of that trial in some respects gives rise to this lawsuit.

Plaintiffs here claim that the Rhea County Board of Education and its superintendent are violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution by teaching the Bible as religious truth in the public schools. The Bible teaching is conducted by students at Bryan College. Bryan College is named in honor of William Jennings Bryan who, during the Scopes trial, expressed the wish that a school might be established in Dayton, Tennessee, the Rhea County seat, to teach the truth from a Biblical perspective.

Plaintiffs bring this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and seek a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, nominal damages and attorney fees. The case is now before the Court on the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment [Court File No. 50]. The Court has heard oral argument on this motion.

I. Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate where no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c). In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the Court must view the facts contained in the record and all inferences that can be drawn from those facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); National Satellite Sports, Inc. v. Eliadis Inc., 253 F.3d 900, 907 (6th Cir.2001). The Court cannot weigh the evidence or determine the truth of any matter in dispute. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating that no genuine issue of material fact exists. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). To refute such a showing, the non-moving party must present some significant, probative evidence indicating the necessity of a trial for resolving a material, factual dispute. Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548. A mere scintilla of evidence is not enough. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505; McLean v. 988011 Ontario, Ltd., 224 F.3d 797, 800 (6th Cir.2000). The Court's role is limited to determining whether the case contains sufficient evidence from which a jury could reasonably find for the non-moving party. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505; National Satellite Sports, 253 F.3d at 907.

II. Facts

The facts are not in dispute. Plaintiffs John Doe and Mary Roe are residents of Rhea County, Tennessee. They are parents of two minor children who currently attend public elementary school in Rhea County. John Doe and Mary Roe are members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. ("FFRF"). FFRF is a non-profit organization, chartered under the laws of the State of Wisconsin. It is organized for the purpose of promoting the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to non-theistic beliefs.

Defendants Rhea County School Board and Superintendent Sue Porter are responsible for the management and control over the Rhea County school system. For many years they have allowed a program entitled "Bible Education Ministry" ("BEM") to be conducted in the public schools. Currently the BEM program is carried out in grades kindergarten through five in three elementary schools. The Bible is taught during regular school hours to each grade for 30 minutes every week. The Rhea County School Board has never adopted any written description of the program. The schools do not obtain parental consent for students to participate. While the defendants claim the program is optional, they do not tell that to students. There is no evidence that any child has ever opted out of the program. Parents are provided no information about the content or structure of the program. The BEM program is not mentioned in the policy manual that the Rhea County school system has filed with the State of Tennessee.

The BEM program is operated by Bryan College. Travis Harvey Ricketts, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History and Director of Practical Christian Involvement, oversees and supervises the program. The teachers are Bryan College students who volunteer to help students in the Rhea County schools to become "exposed to the Bible." For ordinary school instruction, the School Board requires that lesson plans be prepared by classroom teachers on a weekly basis and that those lesson plans be available for review by school principals. However, BEM lesson plans are not provided to the school system, nor are they reviewed by any school employee.

The School Board and Superintendent have essentially turned over the operation of the BEM program to Bryan College, making a place in the regular school curriculum and in the classrooms for the program. Bryan College students do prepare lesson plans for review by Dr. Ricketts. The students who teach need not be in any particular college program, nor have any particular major. All teaching for the BEM program is from the Bible.

III. Analysis

A. Standing

The defendants' contend that the plaintiffs lack standing to bring this suit. After reviewing the record, the Court concludes that the plaintiffs do have standing.

Article III, Section 2 of the United States Constitution confines the jurisdiction of federal courts to the resolution of actual "Cases" or "Controversies." See Raines v. Byrd, 521 U.S. 811, 818, 117 S.Ct. 2312, 138 L.Ed.2d 849 (1997); Arizonans For Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 64, 117 S.Ct. 1055, 137 L.Ed.2d 170 (1997); Valley Forge Christian Coll. v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 471, 102 S.Ct. 752, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982). A core component of the Article III case-or-controversy requirement is standing. Vermont Agency of Natural Res. v. United States ex rel. Stevens, 529 U.S. 765, 771, 120 S.Ct. 1858, 146 L.Ed.2d 836 (2000); Raines, 521 U.S. at 818, 117 S.Ct. 2312; Arizonans For Official English, 520 U.S. at 64, 117 S.Ct. 1055; Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). Plaintiffs bear the burden of showing that they have standing. Raines, 521 U.S. at 818-19, 117 S.Ct. 2312; United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737, 743, 115 S.Ct. 2431, 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995); Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130.

The Supreme Court holds that the "irreducible constitutional minimum" of standing consists of three essential elements. First, there must be an injury in fact — a harm or invasion of a legally protected interest that is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical. A plaintiff must establish a "personal stake" in the dispute which means the injury must affect the plaintiff in a personal and individual way. The second element is causation. There must be a causal connection between the alleged injury and the defendants' conduct. The plaintiffs' injury has to be "fairly traceable" to the challenged action of the defendants and not the result of the independent action of some third party not before the Court. Third, it must be likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the plaintiffs' alleged injury will be redressed by a favorable judicial decision. Vermont Agency of Natural Res., 529 U.S. at 771, 120 S.Ct. 1858; Raines, 521 U.S. at 818-19, 117 S.Ct. 2312; Hays, 515 U.S. at 742-43, 115 S.Ct. 2431; Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130; Cleveland Branch, N.A.A.C.P. v. City of Parma, 263 F.3d 513, 523-24 (6th Cir.2001).

Plaintiffs have met their burden of showing standing. John Doe and Mary Roe have each submitted sworn affidavits which the Court takes into consideration when ruling on the summary judgment motion pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 56. In their affidavits, John Doe and Mary Roe state they are residents of Rhea County and they have two minor children who currently attend elementary school in the Rhea County public school system. This is sufficient to give John Doe, Mary Roe, and their children standing to bring the instant suit. See McCollum v. Board of Ed., 333 U.S. 203, 68 S.Ct. 461, 92 L.Ed. 649 (1948). Parents generally have standing to assert claims on behalf of their minor children. See, e.g., Smith v. Organization of Foster Families, 431 U.S. 816, 841 n. 44, 97 S.Ct. 2094, 53 L.Ed.2d 14 (1977); Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 423, 82 S.Ct. 1261, 8 L.Ed.2d 601 (1962); Altman v. Bedford Cent. Sch. Dist., 245 F.3d 49, 70 (2nd Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 68, 151 L.Ed.2d 34 (2001).

The plaintiff school students and their parents are not merely "concerned bystanders" seeking to air generalized grievances. They are directly affected by the BEM program. Children attending public schools and their parents have a constitutional right to receive a...