The Freedom From Religion Foundation has reached a settlement on behalf of The Satanic Temple, in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year against the Shelby County Board of Education in Memphis, Tenn., over serious First Amendment violations. FFRF represented the Temple in the suit and successfully ended the school system’s constitutional violations.
The school district attempted to thwart at every turn The Satanic Temple’s efforts to begin an afterschool club at Chimneyrock Elementary School. Rather than allowing it to rent school facilities on the same terms as other nonprofit organizations, including the Good News Club, the Shelby County Board of Education, which operates the district, chose to defy the First Amendment. The district charged The Satanic Temple discriminatory rental and security fees, refused to adequately communicate, canceled the Temple’s club reservations, and generally treated members of the club as second-class citizens.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools “cannot pick and choose how much it charges an organization renting its facilities based on how much it does or does not favor the organization’s viewpoint, the content of its speech, or its religious beliefs,” asserted FFRF’s lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in March of this year.
Now, the Shelby County Board of Education has agreed to make amends in a number of ways.
The board will pay over $15,000 to resolve the suit. That includes $14,845 in attorneys’ fees and costs to FFRF and cooperating counsel. The board will also pay one dollar for nominal damages to The Satanic Temple and $196.71 for various fees previously paid by the Temple in connection with rental reservations that had not yet been refunded.
Further, the Shelby County Board of Education has agreed not to discriminate against the organization with regard to its requests to rent and use school board property at Chimneyrock Elementary School; the Temple will be subject to the same rules and requirements as other nonprofit organizations seeking to rent or use the school’s facilities. In addition, the school board’s administration has promised not to hold any press conference with regard to the Temple’s lawful rental or use of school property.
With the case settled, FFRF filed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit on July 16.
The district’s discriminatory behavior gained a national spotlight last December when the district held a press conference in which school board members, administrators, and other officials, surrounded by clergy members, expressed hostility toward The Satanic Temple and validated community members’ hostility toward the After School Satan Club’s then upcoming first meeting at Chimneyrock Elementary.
Shortly after the press conference, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog with 40,000 members, sent the first of three complaint letters to the district in response to the deeply concerning and discriminatory remarks. FFRF’s first letter urged the district to continue to abide by the First Amendment and allow The Satanic Temple to rent facilities in accordance with the district’s own written policies.
Instead, the district notified the Temple in early January via a phone call that it had assessed a “special security fee” of over $2,000 against the group for “additional security.” The district also charged the Temple another fee of $250 for “field lights,” both fees that other organizations meeting regularly at the school (such as the Christian Good News Club) have never been charged. FFRF and The Satanic Temple’s requests to the district for a fee waiver were ignored, and so the Temple reluctantly paid the fees.
On Jan. 10, Memphis-Shelby County Schools finally allowed the Temple to hold the first meeting after-school at Chimneyrock Elementary. When club leaders arrived at the school, they discovered that various district administrators, school board members and members of the clergy were already at the entrance of the building. The district continued attempts to thwart The Satanic Temple and deter its club for students from meeting at Chimneyrock. It abruptly changed the meeting time, unceremoniously canceled rental applications, refused to communicate with the Temple regarding rental rates, and continued to treat the Temple unfavorably.
The district’s discriminatory and illegal behavior left The Satanic Temple and FFRF with no choice but to sue.The lawsuit sought fair treatment. The Temple didn’t want special privileges, just to be treated the same as all other organizations renting from the district. The lawsuit asked the court to order the district to approve The Satanic Temple’s reservation requests, treat the Temple fairly, and refund it the discriminatory fees the district forced it to pay.
The settlement, hopefully, resolves these issues, though this lawsuit could have been avoided entirely if the district had simply followed the law.
“We’re glad the district has mutually resolved this case and agreed to treat The Satanic Temple’s club fairly going forward,” says Patrick Elliott, FFRF’s legal director. “This settlement should send a message to public schools that the First Amendment applies to all organizations, including minority groups.”
“A long and tedious battle for our First Amendment Right to equal access has finally come to an end with the Memphis-Shelby County School District,” says June Everrett, campaign director for The Satanic Temple’s After School Satan Clubs. “We are extremely grateful for the team at the Freedom From Religion Foundation for their work ensuring that public school districts cannot use viewpoint discrimination against minority religious groups. It is clear that the First Amendment is necessary to prevent the government from picking and choosing who has access to their facilities based on viewpoint. Our volunteers and families look forward to returning next school year with fair and equal treatment.”
FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott and FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence prepared the complaint. This case was handled in conjunction with FFRF’s local counsel, Attorney Scott Kramer and Attorney Matthew Kezhaya.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation serves as the nation’s largest association of freethinkers, with 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including almost 500 members and a chapter in Tennessee, and works as a state/church watchdog to safeguard the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.
