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Taxpayer May Not Intervene To Challenge Settlement of Suit By School District

By Howard M. Friedman

In Doe v. Cheatham County School Board of Education, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38883 (MD TN, April 20, 2010), a Tennessee federal district court refused to permit a citizen/taxpayer to intervene to challenge a settlement of an Establishment Clause lawsuit that was brought by the ACLU against Cheatham County (TN) public schools. In the settlement, the school board agreed that the schools will no longer allow various religious activities. (See prior posting.) The court, in rejecting the motion to intervene, said:

[Intervenor] objects in toto to the enforcement of the Establishment Clause as it pertains to Christianity in public schools and to the ability of the ACLU to collect fees for its efforts to enforce the Establishment Clause in such cases, both of which are far beyond the scope of the issues presented here. Allowing her to pursue such global claims would undoubtedly prolong what is a simpler question of whether specific acts by certain teachers and administrators violated either the state or federal constitution.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on April 23, 2010 (boomark / email).