The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court this fall will handle a heavy load of right-to-life and religious liberty cases. In at least four of those, the Court will reassess constitutional protection of the free exercise of religion. And in at least three other cases, the justices will reexamine the rights of handicapped newborns and the unborn.
Equal Access
The first of the cases to be heard centers on a group of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, students who sought to hold a Bible club meeting during a high school activities period. After one meeting, school officials denied the students permission to hold future meetings. The students filed suit, saying the school district had violated their free speech rights.
Attorneys for the school district say that permitting the Bible club to meet would violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. They argue that it would communicate to students that the school “sponsored and sanctioned” the Bible club.
Christian Legal Society attorneys, who represent the Bible club students, reject their opponents’ argument. They say the establishment clause “restrains state-initiated, not self-initiated, religious speech.” They argue that discriminating against the club on the basis of the content of the speech at the meeting violates the students’ free speech rights.
The Williamsport case comes on the heels of congressional passage last summer of the Equal Access Act. That law grants student-initiated, student-run, voluntary religious clubs the right to meet on high school premises on the same basis as nonreligious student groups.
Abortion Cases
The Court will consider two cases that deal with abortion regulations in Illinois and Pennsylvania. At issue in both cases is how properly to balance a woman’s right to privacy against the state’s interest in fetal life.
If upheld by the Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania laws would mandate a number of precautions, including the requirement that the method used in late-term abortions be the one most likely to result in a live birth. The laws also stipulate that patients be adequately informed about fetal development, about the relative risks of childbirth and abortion, and about the availability of financial assistance or adoption alternatives.
The Illinois laws, if upheld, would require doctors to use the abortion method most likely to preserve the life of a viable fetus. Those laws also require doctors to advise patients that certain birth control drugs and devices cause fetal death rather than prevent conception.
The laws’ opponents argue that a woman’s right to privacy prevails up until the point of fetal “viability.” They say abortion regulations impermissibly infringe on a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. In response, backers of the laws maintain that the states are merely safeguarding their interests in maternal health and the preservation of fetal life. In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down similar abortion restrictions in Akron, Ohio.
Handicapped Newborns
Does existing civil rights law permit the federal government to mandate life-saving medical treatment for babies born with severe defects when their parents and doctors have agreed to forgo such treatment? That is the question posed in a case involving federal “Baby Doe regulations” issued to protect severely handicapped newborns. The regulations—later struck down by a federal appeals court—prevented those newborns from being discriminated against when decisions are made to withhold life-saving treatment.
Attorneys for the American Hospital Association and others want the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the appeals court decision. They say a direct federal role in policing treatment decisions would “intrude upon the state’s traditional responsibilities for regulating parent-child and physician-patient relationships.” They also foresee the creation of a new body of malpractice law where physicians’ treatment decisions would be subjected to constant scrutiny.
Meanwhile, U.S. Justice Department lawyers insist that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, from which the Baby Doe regulations arose, compels the federal government to mandate medical treatment when it is withheld from newborns solely because of their disability.
Religious Freedom
Does a state agency violate the establishment clause by giving vocational rehabilitation funds to a blind man who is studying for the ministry? The U.S. Supreme Court will answer that question in one of the religious liberty cases to be considered this fall.
Larry Witters is a blind man studying at Inland Empire School of the Bible in Spokane, Washington. He is medically eligible to participate in the state’s vocational rehabilitation program. But he was denied assistance on the grounds that the state constitution forbids the use of public money to subsidize religious study. That action was upheld by the Washington State Supreme Court.
Mike Farris, general counsel for Concerned Women for America, is representing Witters. In his brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, Farris says the primary effect of the state’s aid plan is not to advance religion, but “to help blind people obtain training and find employment … any effect upon religion is incidental.” Farris says the state’s denial of funds violates Witters’s freedom of religion.
The free exercise of religion figures prominently in two other cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. One involves an American Indian who objects on religious grounds to his daughter’s needing an identification number in order to receive welfare benefits. The other involves a U.S. Air Force psychologist who is Jewish. He contends that the First Amendment’s free exercise clause compels the air force to allow him to wear a yarmulke while he is on duty. In both cases, the high court will weigh an individual’s interest in religious liberty against the government’s interest in the efficient operation of its programs and departments.
PETE WYLIE
Sex Education Teacher Sues Her Critics
Concerned Women for America (CWA) has appealed for funds to provide legal defense for some 85 people who are being sued by a Pennsylvania high school teacher. Marlene Stein, who teaches health education at Red Lion High School near York, Pennsylvania, filed the lawsuit, claiming defamation of character and invasion of privacy.
The flap over Stein, who has taught at Red Lion for more than ten years, began early last year. Parents of high school students approached the Red Lion School Board with complaints about some of Stein’s methods and viewpoints expressed during the sex education segment of her health course. Parents and other citizens later formed the Red Lion Citizens for Decency Committee and petitioned the school board for Stein’s dismissal.
After the school board voted unanimously not to take any action, the citizen’s group took its case to court. The case was thrown out when a judge ruled that the proper remedy was for citizens to vote school board members out of office who were unresponsive to their petition.
Stein turned the tables early this year by filing suit against 113 parties, including a local newspaper, a Christian television station, and many citizens who had signed a petition against her. CWA is defending those who did not retain other legal counsel.
A fund-raising letter sent out by CWA president Beverly LaHaye listed 16 allegations of wrongdoing against Stein, who also has served as coach of the girls’ swimming team. The letter states that Stein required swimming team members to practice in the nude if they arrived late. The letter also states that Stein “encouraged the kind of relationship with the girls on her team where they bought her adult-oriented, sexually-deviant gifts.” It states further that in a coed sex education class, Stein “required boys and girls to hold hands and repeat slang expressions for sex acts.”
CWA staff attorney Cimron Campbell said he possesses signed statements from students and former students that substantiate the allegations against Stein. “This dispute is not over the teaching of sex education,” he said, “but over the way it is taught.”
One of Stein’s attorneys, Larry Markowitz, said the allegations generally are unfounded or are based on distortion. He said some of the allegations mentioned in the CWA letter were not even raised during the effort to have Stein fired.
“We have said all along,” Markowitz said, “that Mrs. Stein has done nothing to bring on these kinds of charges.”
If any of Stein’s lawsuits go to trial, the truth or falsehood of the allegations will be determined by a court of law.
WORLD SCENE
Socialist Priest Banned
An Italian priest has been banned from the Roman Catholic priesthood for disobedience and partisan political activity. The action came after the priest, Giovanni Baget Bozzo, was elected a Socialist deputy in the European Parliament. In the past, Bozzo had criticized his ecclesiastical superior and the Pope in newspaper articles. He was barred in 1981 from celebrating mass, preaching, and hearing confessions.
Christian Rock Musician In Russia
Keston College reports that Christian rock musician Valeri Barinov is seriously ill after being held in an isolation cell in a Soviet labor camp. He had been placed in the cell after beginning the latest of several hunger strikes in June. Barinov and his band secretly recorded a Christian rock opera, entitled The Trumpet Call, before he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a labor camp in 1984. The recording is available in the United States on the I Care Records label.
Priest Arrested In Honduras
Honduran military authorities have arrested an American Jesuit priest for “crimes against the state.” John R. Donald was arrested after saying mass in the town of Sava. He is known to oppose U.S. military aid to Honduras. A Catholic missionary spokesman said it is illegal for foreigners in Honduras to publicly criticize the government.
Mormon Temple In East Germany
A new Mormon temple has been consecrated in Freiburg, East Germany, in the presence of government officials. The Communist party newspaper reported the consecration, noting that there are some 5,000 Mormons in more than 40 East German congregations. Meanwhile in Israel, some Christian leaders are opposing a branch of the Mormon-owned Brigham Young University under construction in Jerusalem. Christians have been joined in their efforts by Jewish activists who oppose missionary activity in Israel.
