After-School Satan Club Gets School Room for Afternoon Meetings

A Pennsylvania school district must allow a Satanic youth group to use a middle school classroom to hold three organizational meetings in May, a federal court said.

The evidence showed that the school district’s decision to rescind the permission it gave the group to use the room was likely based on unconstitutional considerations, the opinion by Judge John M. Gallagher of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said Monday.

The Saucon Valley School District initially approved the use of the classroom by the After School Satan Club, but rescinded it after a vocal rebuke by the community—it also received a threat on the school. But the school district said that the rescission was based on the group’s violation of its rules. According to the school district, the group didn’t properly disclaim the school district’s sponsorship of the event on two electronic notices, though the formal flyer announcing the meetings had an appropriate disclaimer.

ASSC is sponsored by The Satanic Temple Inc. TST is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a religion and it promotes the seven Satanic virtues—benevolence, empathy, critical thinking, creative expression, personal sovereignty, compassion, and the pursuit of justice.

TST sued the school district, seeking a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. It said that the decision to rescind approval of the meeting amounted to a heckler’s veto and was a viewpoint and/or content restriction on its speech. The rescission also showed animus toward TST’s religion in violation of the First Amendment, TST said.

TST has a reasonable probability of success on the merits, the court said. It credibly alleged that the school district rescinded its approval because of TST’s controversial viewpoint and the objectors’ reaction to that viewpoint, it said. For example, the announcement to the community rescinding permission for the meeting referenced the community backlash and the threat of violence, the court said.

The school district also failed to justify its restriction of TST’s speech, the court said.

Although the school district said that the internet posts without the proper disclaimer was why it rescinded the permission, the court said that they were two Facebook posts with questionable connections to TST. Instead, the court said that the “record strongly indicates” that the school district’s decision was motivated by unconstitutional considerations unrelated to the disclaimer rule.

The record casts doubt on whether TST actually violated the disclaimer rule and suggests that the school district enforced the rule in a manner inconsistent with its enforcement as to other non-sponsored community groups, the court said.

Nor did the school district show that the community thought that the school district was sponsoring the ASSC meeting, the court said. The record instead showed that the protests were based on the decision to permit the meeting, not that the community actually thought the meeting was sponsored by the school district, it said.

Statements made by the school district’s superintendent also suggested that the rescission was undertaken to remove TST from the school facilities “due to the controversy surrounding its viewpoint on religion,” the court said.

The court granted TST’s motion and ordered the school district to allow ASSC to meet in the middle school after classes on May 10, 17, and 31, 2023.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Dechert LLP represented TST. Fox Rothschild LLP represented the school district.

The case is Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Saucon Valley Sch. Dist., 2023 BL 146735, E.D. Pa., No. 5:23-cv-01244-JMG, 5/1/23.