United States Tenth Circuit

In a university's challenge to Colorado's program that provides scholarships to eligible students who attend any accredited college in the state, public or private, secular or religious, other than those the state deems "pervasively sectarian", summary judgment for state defendants is reversed where: 1) the program expressly discriminates among religions without constitutional justification; and 2) its criteria for doing so involve unconstitutionally intrusive scrutiny of religious belief and practice.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/23/2008
• Published 07/24/2008

Judges

• McCONNELL, Circuit Judge., Before McCONNELL, SEYMOUR and HOLMES, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Gregory S. Baylor, Center for Law & Religious Freedom, Springfield, VA (Timothy J. Tracey & Isaac Fong, Center for Law & Religious Freedom, Springfield, VA;  Eric V. Hall & L. Martin Nussbaum, Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons, LLP, Colorado Springs, CO;  Thomas N. Scheffel, Thomas N. Scheffel & Associates, P.C., Denver, CO;  Benjamin W. Bull & Gary S. McCaleb, Alliance Defense Fund, Scottsdale, AZ, with him on the briefs) for Plaintiff-Appellant., Rena J. Comisac, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Mark L. Gross & Dirk C. Phillips, Attorneys, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division for United States as Amicus Curiae in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Michael J. Norton, Burns, Figa & Will, P.C., Greenwood Village, CO;  Douglas Laycock, University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan;  & Carl H. Esbeck, Columbia, MO, for Center for Public Justice and National Association of Evangelicals as Amici Curiae in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Eric. C. Rassbach & Roger T. Severino for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty as Amicus Curiae in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Jay Alan Sekulow, Washington, D.C., Francis J. Manion, & Geoffrey R. Surtees, New Hope, KY, for American Center for Law and Justice as Amicus Curiae in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Stuart J. Lark, Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, Colorado Springs, CO, for The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, The American Association of Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities, and The Catholic University of America as Amici Curiae in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Gregory M. Jones & Benjamin D. DuPré, Montgomery, AL, for Foundation for Moral Law as Amicus Curiae in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Daniel D. Domenico, Solicitor General (John W. Suthers, Attorney General, John R. Sleeman, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, Antony B. Dyl & Michelle M. Merz, Assistant Attorneys General with him on the briefs) Denver, CO, for Defendants-Appellees., Walter Dellinger with Michael Bern, Franciska Coleman & Jessica Lindeman (Student Participants), Harvard Law School, Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Clinic;  Pamela Harris & Allison Orr Larsen, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Washington, D.C.;  Marc Stern, American Jewish Congress, New York, NY;  Ayesha N. Khan & Richard B. Katskee, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Washington, D.C.;  Daniel Mach, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Washington, D.C.;  Mark Silverstein, American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, Denver, CO;  Judith E. Schaeffer, People For the American Way Foundation, Washington, D.C.;  Steven M. Freeman & Steven C. Sheinberg, Anti-Defamation League, New York, NY;  David Strom, American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C.;  Joshua J. Kunis, American Jewish Congress, New York, NY, for American Jewish Congress, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, American Civil Liberties Union, People For the American Way Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Federation of Teachers, and the American Jewish Congress as Amici Curiae in support of Defendants-Appellees., John M. West, Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C.;  Francisco M. Negron, Jr., National School Boards Association, Alexandria, VA;  Robert H. Chanin, National Education Association, Washington, D.C.;   Martha R. Houser, Colorado Education Association, for National Education Association, Denver, CO;  Colorado Education Association, National School Boards Association, and National Parent Teacher Association as Amici Curiae in support of Defendants-Appellees.