Judge denies emergency relief to Catholic school challenging Maine antidiscrimination law

A judge has ruled against a Catholic school challenging a state law that prohibits discrimination by religious schools receiving public funds.

Auburn’s St. Dominic Academy brought the lawsuit about a year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Maine could not bar religious schools from receiving state funding as part of a “town tuitioning” program, which paid for students from certain towns to attend other public or private schools.

The school said the 2021 law is unconstitutional and specifically targets religious schools. St. Dominic said that in order to receive public tuition funds it would be forced to require all employees to use students’ preferred pronouns and facilitate their efforts to change their gender identity, which it said could go against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland’s commitment to respect parents’ “inalienable” right to educate their children.

But Judge John Woodcock rejected the school’s request for a preliminary injunction on Thursday.

Woodcock said St. Dominic didn’t present evidence that the new law was passed with an objection to “impede or constrain religion.” The judge added that the law is narrowly tailored, and the “challenged provisions are written to prohibit only discriminatory conduct.” Woodcock noted that the school would still be free, under the law, to “conduct morning prayers however it wants, teach from a Catholic perspective, and promote Catholicism to the exclusion of all other religions.”

Adele Keim, a senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the school, was disappointed in the judge’s decision, and said the group plans to appeal the ruling.

“But we think that other judges, taking a fresh look in light of long-standing Supreme Court case, civil rights law, will find in favor of our clients.” Keim said.

A spokesperson for the Maine attorney’s general office said that it could not comment on pending litigation.

In a statement, ACLU of Maine chief counsel Zach Heiden said, “Maine’s nondiscrimination laws are designed to protect everyone, and freedom of religion does not mean freedom to discriminate.”

The lawsuit is one of two that have been filed challenging the 2021 law amending the Maine Human Rights Act. Woodcock ruled similarly against Bangor’s Crosspoint Church earlier this year. Woodcock acknowledged last week that the cases were likely headed to a higher court.

“In reaching its conclusions, the Court has discussed and decided the difficult constitutional questions presented,” Woodcock wrote in his ruling. “At the same time, the Court recognizes that this case poses novel constitutional issues and, as it did in Crosspoint Church, the Court has attempted to frame its opinion as a prelude to a challenge to the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for a more authoritative ruling.”

This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public .