Friedmann v. Sheldon Community School Dist., 93-2375
| Citation | 995 F.2d 802 |
| Decision Date | 28 May 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-2375,93-2375 |
| Parties | 83 Ed. Law Rep. 1000 Rabbi Thomas FRIEDMANN, Reverend Penelope Binger, Armolene J. Maxey, Bill Knepper, and Reverend Laird R. Keever, Appellees, v. SHELDON COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT and Marcus Community School District, Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
Thomas J. Whorley, Sheldon, IA, argued, for appellants.
Randall C. Wilson, Des Moines, IA, argued, for appellees.
Appellants Sheldon Community School District and Marcus Community School District appeal the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction enjoining the defendants from permitting graduating students to read an invocation or benediction at their graduation ceremony. They now seek an emergency stay of the injunction. For the following reasons, we grant the emergency stay, vacate the injunction, and remand with instructions to dismiss the action for want of subject matter jurisdiction.
Plaintiffs/appellees are neither graduating students, parents of students nor residents of the defendant school districts. They do not allege an intention to attend the graduation ceremonies in question. Rather, they base their standing to bring this action as taxpayers in the State of Iowa.
The Supreme Court has required plaintiffs asserting taxpayer standing to jump two hurdles: first, the taxpayer must establish "a logical link between [his status as taxpayer] and the type of legislative enactment attacked," and second, "the taxpayer must establish a nexus between that status and the precise nature of the constitutional infringement alleged." Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 102, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 1953, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968). In ruling that plaintiffs had standing, the district court noted that:
In the instant case, the plaintiffs are challenging Iowa Code sec. 257.16 which provides for the disbursement of funds from the State General Fund to school districts in the state. Testimony at the hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction revealed that in fact these schools do receive money from the State General Fund and that money is deposited in the school general fund. Testimony further revealed that the school general fund is used to pay for the diplomas and diploma covers given to the students at graduation. In addition, in past years at least, the Sheldon school has also used its general fund for purposes of paying for flowers, balloons and other graduation items.
The court then held that under this Court's decision in Minnesota Federation of Teachers v. Randall, 891 F.2d 1354 (8th Cir.1989), the plaintiffs merely had to show a "measurable expenditure of tax money" through the challenged activity. We believe that the court misconstrued Randall and the Supreme Court decisions upon which Randall relied.
In Randall, the plaintiff challenged a state statute allowing high school students to take classes at private, religious colleges at state expense. Thus, the challenged statute provided direct expenditures of tax money to religiously affiliated institutions. The language quoted by the district court merely illustrated this court's holding that the plaintiff did not have to show his taxes actually rose to secure taxpayer standing. Id. at 1358. Here, we have no such nexus. Plaintiffs have made no allegation that the state is spending money for religious purposes. They have not shown any state money going to the invocation or benediction, which is what they contend violates the Establishment Clause. They have shown no more than that state money is spent for diplomas, which certainly is not objectionable under the Establishment Clause. Thus, the plaintiffs cannot show a nexus between their status as taxpayers...
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