On The Front Lines

Rutherford Institute Secures Court Victory for New York Residents Whose 'Jesus Saves/John 3:16' Religious Bricks Were Removed from School Walkway

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have secured a court victory for the right of Oswego County residents to inscribe Christian messages on bricks that were purchased and placed in the walkway of Mexico Academy High School as part of a school fundraiser. The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York orders school officials to restore to the school walkway the bricks inscribed with religious messages, which had been removed by school officials in an effort to appease the American Civil Liberties Union. The court's order comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Institute attorneys alleging that the removal of the bricks violated the residents' First Amendment right to free speech. A copy of the court's ruling is available here.

"This case is a great victory for free speech," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "And we are appreciative of the District Court's thoughtful consideration of the constitutional issues."

During the 1996-1997 school years, students of the Mexico Academy High School Class of 1999 conducted a fundraiser in which members of the community were invited to purchase and inscribe with personal messages 4" X 8" bricks, which would then be placed in the walkway to the school's entrance. The only restrictions placed on the bricks were that they not contain "obscene and vulgar language" or "love interest" messages. Robert Kiesinger and Pastor Ronald Russell, residents of Oswego County, purchased eight bricks and inscribed them with religious messages, including "Jesus Saves/ John 3:16," "Jesus Loves You" and "Jesus Is Lord." After a member of the community complained about the religious messages on the bricks, school officials posted a disclaimer in the walkway stating that the messages were the personal expressions and contributions of community members. However, after renewed complaints and the threat of a lawsuit by the ACLU, school officials removed from the walkway all bricks inscribed with overtly Christian messages, allowing more generic messages such as "God Bless You" and "In God We Trust" to remain. Charging that school officials had discriminated against some of the residents' religious views by specifically censoring the Christian messages inscribed on the bricks, thus violating the rights guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the New York Constitution, Rutherford Institute attorneys filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York on behalf of Kiesinger and Russell. Although the District Court initially refused to grant a preliminary injunction to have the bricks reinstalled, it was forced to reconsider the issue when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case for reconsideration. Concluding that the removal of the Christian bricks constituted viewpoint discrimination, District Court Judge Norman Mordue rejected the school's arguments, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Good News Club v. Milford Central School (an earlier Rutherford Institute victory) that "speech discussing otherwise permissible subjects cannot be excluded...on the ground that the subject is discussed from a religious viewpoint."