I've been posting rough drafts from what I hope will be an upcoming book focused on Supreme Court cases related to church-state separation in public education. Some aren't cases likely to get full treatment in the book but of interest to me personally, so I ramble about them here. Others – like this one – don't require extended analysis or my trademark pithy insights, but still deserve a mention. (The final version of this one will probably be shaved by about a third to keep things readable and leave a few trees in the forests.)
Good News Club v. Milford (2001) was one of a string of "equal access" cases in which the basic issue was the use of school faciltiies outside of normal hours. Arguably the two most important cases on this topic were Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990) and Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District (1993). In both, the lead attorney for those seeking equal access for religious groups on the same terms as others was none other than Jay Sekulow, the right-wing talk show host, big dog at the ACLJ, and favored defender of President Donald Trump. (He was not involved in THIS particular case as far as I know, but he certainly helped lay the groundwork for the arguments supporting the winning side.)
I'm not a big fan of Sekulow, generally speaking, but he was effective before the Supreme Court. It didn't hurt that he was on the right side in both of these particular CONTINUE READING: "Have To" History Preview: Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001) | Blue Cereal Education
