AHLC | Cases | Douglas County

Completed Lawsuits:

VICTORY: American Humanist Association, Inc. v. Douglas County School District RE1

In 2014, the AHA filed a lawsuit on behalf of a district parent objecting to numerous unconstitutional activities of the school district in promoting Christianity including promotion of a church-sponsored service trip to Guatemala involving students.

The AHA appealed the District Court’s dismissal of the case and argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in November 2016. In June 2016, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the lower court and remanded the case.

In July 2018, a federal district judge ruled on remand that the Douglas County School District in Colorado violated the Establishment Clause by sending flyers and emails asking parents to make donations toward the trip, and by hosting a supply drive at a school.

“The Court finds that defendants’ actions amounted to ‘an excessive government entanglement with religion,” U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote. “...The District itself described its relationship with the … supply drive as a ‘partnership.’ These actions and words had ‘the effect of advancing . . . religion.’”

In September 2018, the parties conferred and settled AHA’s award of attorneys’ fees and costs.

Selected Docket Files:

District Court (Case No. 1:14-cv-02878-RBJ):

Complaint (filed October 22, 2014)

Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Law in Support of their Motion for Summary Judgment (filed August 3, 2015)

Plaintiffs’ Brief in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment Supplemental (filed September 08, 2017)

Court Order (filed July 17, 2018)

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (Case No. 16-1049):

Appellants-Petitioners’ Brief (filed May 2, 2016)

Court Order reversing lower district court’s ruling (issued June 20, 2017).

Selected Media Coverage:

Politico (August 10, 2018)