A federal judge ruled on Monday that an after-school club, with the name “After School Satan Club,” could continue to hold meetings after district administrators shut it down.
The ruling on the Saucon Valley Middle School after-school group came from Judge John Gallagher, who said the school district violated the First Amendment when it revoked the club’s approval, the American Civil Liberties Union reported.
Gallagher said in his opinion that Saucon Valley School District Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty’s decision to cancel the club was a difficult one that she was forced to make after a shooting threat was made because of the Satan Club. The judge said that Vlasaty’s position was “unenviable.”
Despite recognizing the difficulty in the administrator’s decision, the judge said that suppressing the Satan Club’s free speech was not “Constitutionally permissible.”
Gallagher said, “although The Satanic Temple, Inc.’s objectors may challenge the sanctity of this controversially named organization, the sanctity of the First Amendment’s protections must prevail.”
In its case against the school district, the club and Satanic Temple were represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania. Sara Rose, the deputy director of the ACLU branch, spoke with WFMZ about the ruling, saying it showed the “First Amendment” had prevailed.
Why was it shut down?
Rose said that the district had argued the Satan Club was not following its advertising rules, which required the group to explicitly state it was not endorsed by the district.
However, the attorney said she was able to prove a double standard in the district with a Christian club that had also not followed the alleged advertising rules but was still allowed to hold meetings.
“I think the most powerful piece of evidence that we had on the Satanic Temple’s side was the fact that their advertisement was so similar to that of the Good News Club,” said Rose.
Rose continued, saying that both clubs are religious and have meetings in the same room around the same time after school, but the district only took issue with one.
“One was okay, and one wasn’t, and I think that created a lot of questions in the court’s mind,” Rose said.
The club is now set to hold its first meeting after being shut down for more than two months.
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