With a tie vote, a federal appeals court yesterday upheld the dismissal of a civil-rights suit by a South Jersey student who was not allowed to demonstrate his reading ability by reciting his favorite Bible story in class.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, affirming a 1998 lower court ruling, again removed the threat of litigation against teacher Grace Oliva and Medford Township school officials over a 1995 incident involving Hainesport first grader Zachary Hood.
Under its own rules, a tie vote among the 12 Third Circuit judges automatically affirms the lower court's decision. But the eight-page opinion by U.S. Circuit Judge Walter K. Stapleton did not give either side the legal guidance it had hoped for, leaving unaddressed the thorny constitutional questions of free speech and the place of religion in public education.
The case has been before the Third Circuit court or one of its three-judge panels three times since 1998 without a clear-cut ruling from the court, which hears appeals from federal trial courts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Third Circuit judges also refused to address a second aspect of Zachary's appeal, the alleged violation of his constitutional rights that occurred in 1994 when he was in kindergarten and a religiously oriented Thanksgiving poster he drew was temporarily removed from public display.
Stapleton wrote that the allegations involving the poster were so lacking in factual detail that "it is very likely that the court is being asked to resolve an important issue of constitutional law that is a purely hypothetical one as far as these parties are concerned."
The court returned this aspect of the case to the federal court in New Jersey to give Zachary, now 10, and his mother, Carol Hood, the chance to amend their complaint and support their allegations.
News of the tie vote and ambiguous ruling stunned attorneys for both the Medford School District and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the Hoods.
Kevin J. Hasson, a Becket Fund attorney, said he would appeal the Bible-story aspect to the U.S. Supreme Court and file a new complaint over the poster in the trial court.
"The cause of free student religious speech is very much alive in this case. We're going to be moving ahead on two fronts," he said.
